Mia
For many of us, our vehicles are our link to the rest of the world. It’s the nature of the beast for things to go wrong on occasion, however. When a breakdown or accident occurs, it becomes more obvious than ever how reliant we are on our transport.
Did you know that 6 million car accidents happen every year in the US? The damage from these accidents isn’t just to our vehicles, either. Financial, physical, and psychological problems are common in the aftermath and often require significant time to recover from.
If you’re curious to learn more about the accident recovery process, we’ve got you covered! Read on to find out more.
Accident Injuries and Recovery
The process of recovering from an accident depends on its and severity. Minor fender benders are common and you can often get away with nothing but a little scuffed paintwork. Major collisions are life-threatening and mean the potential destruction of your vehicle and way of life.
In the blink of an eye, everything you thought to be important can change. We often overlook and take for granted a lot of things that can be taken from us in an instant. High-speed collisions can wreck our bodies and our bank accounts in one fell swoop.
This is to say nothing of the potential psychological damage these accidents leave us with. A near-death experience alters our perception of the world, often for the worse. Jumping in the car was once no big deal, but after an accident, you’re forced to consider all the implications.
Vehicle Damage
There’s not much chance of avoiding substantial damage to your vehicle whenever an accident takes place. While damage to your body and mental health is something of a coin toss, damage to your vehicle is all but assured. The speed and angle of the collision dictate the extent of the damage and how expensive it will be to get fixed.
Exterior damage is mostly cosmetic and the first line of defense. All that suffers here are the looks of your car and potentially its aerodynamics. A car that has sustained a crash and looks worse for wear can be driven, but you might get pulled over for doing so.
Officers of the law are required to stop a vehicle that looks particularly beaten up and investigate. You might even get a ticket if the damage to the exterior of your car influences its safe use. Damage to light fixtures and windows must be fixed to ensure not just your safety but the safety of other road users as well.
Internal Mechanical Damage
Vehicles are machines that operate on a knife’s edge of mechanical stability. If one part of the machine is out of kilter, the whole machine suffers. It only takes one of the many parts that operate in tandem to bend or break to grind the whole assembly to a halt.
Continuing to drive a car that has an obvious issue is possible, but the condition will worsen in time. Unpredictable catastrophic failure can occur at any moment in these cases, so it’s best not to take the risk. On the road, you’re not only gambling with your own life but the lives of others.
Accidents that directly affect the proper and safe running of a vehicle must be dealt with as soon as possible and never ignored. Unfortunately, these repairs are often costly, as parts are expensive to source and replace. Labor costs also add significantly to the end price of such necessities.
Financial Damage
When something goes awry with your vehicle, you have no choice but to have it fixed. Accidents commonly cause severe damage to vehicles and they must be repaired to ensure future disasters are averted. Preventative measures such as this cost a pretty penny, but in the long run will ensure the situation doesn’t worsen.
Despite the pain of a financial hit, it’s always better to pay the price immediately rather than risk greater financial ruin in the future from ignoring a problem. If you cause an accident due to negligence, you can be sued for an arm and a leg. It’s not worth the risk of a court appearance and potential jail time.
If the accident damages weren’t your fault and you’ve sustained personal damage to property and/or bodily damage at the hands of someone else, you could be eligible to sue. Especially if you’re suffering continued psychological distress, the law can leverage a fair and just payout for your suffering. Check out this link if you’d like to sue for PTSD after accident.
Psychological Distress
A large portion of the damage sustained from an automobile accident goes unseen. The person who was carefully minding their own business when they were crashed into can suffer long-lasting psychological distress. This can present in several debilitating ways, making their lives less enjoyable and unnecessarily difficult.
Post-traumatic stress disorder arises after particularly stressful events. It presents as anxiety, paranoia, and a general malaise that can affect every aspect of a person’s daily life. PTSD is debilitating and takes a long time to overcome. Sometimes lengthy sessions over a period of years are the only way to begin to get a handle on it.
PTSD is often characterized by intrusive thoughts and a reliving of the moment which damages the psyche of the sufferer. It’s not hard to imagine how an unexpected crash could begin the process of psychic distress. Without professional help, sufferers of PTSD might suffer for years while fruitlessly attempting to navigate the intricacies of their ailments in abject misery.
Recovery Process
Every auto accident is distinct, and depending on the type of damage sustained your road to recovery will look different. With any luck, the only damage will be to your automobile itself. Car parts are easily replaceable compared to limbs and organs, after all!
Fixing a car is as simple as booking an appointment with your local garage. Professional mechanics will be able to source and order the parts required to replace anything broken.
This eventually is characterized solely by loss of time and money. If you’re insured, your insurance will bear the brunt of the damage and you’ll get off relatively lightly. It’s always annoying to lose time and money, but it’s always preferable to bodily harm, so be grateful!
Personal Harm and Accident Recovery
The journey to recovering perfect physical health can be long and arduous depending on the extent of your injuries. If you’ve been unfortunate enough to have been damaged in an automobile accident, it could take a while before you’re fighting fit again. It takes time to heal, and during the process, it’s not uncommon to be unable to work for the duration.
The time you’re out of work can put a considerable dent in savings and also your faith in other drivers. While you spend time in the hospital for physical therapy or general care, your bills add up. If you weren’t liable for the accident, your insurance will prevent things from getting too dicey.
Hospital visits aren’t cheap, so considering suing for negligence and bodily harm can help keep your head above water. If someone has directly caused you harm, you’re entitled to recompense. Don’t ever feel bad about the prospect of getting what you’re due, especially if you’re not to blame for your condition!
Mental Health Recovery
The stresses involved from start to finish when involved in an auto accident aren’t to be taken lightly. Even the most stalwart among us will begin to fray when considering their bad luck and all the nonsense that comes along with it. Struggling with psychological problems after a crash isn’t uncommon.
As the old saying goes, ‘Once burned, twice shy.’ Driving won’t be the same for a long time after experiencing a traumatic accident. Your confidence will take a direct hit, which is a serious problem for anyone who drives regularly.
Dealing with trauma while forced to get back behind the wheel can exacerbate problems and even increase the risk of further accidents. Anxiety where there was none before negatively affects reaction times and your chances of a repeat scenario are heightened. Addressing all forms of mental strife is important before deciding to get back on the road.
Accident Counseling and Therapy
Professional help is available for anyone struggling to overcome trials of significant trauma. We’re only human, and dealing with the fallout of an unexpected lifestyle change is a lot easier when you’ve got someone to share the load with. Sometimes simply discussing what happened can ease the burden significantly.
Counseling sessions walk the patient through their thoughts and experiences to help them better understand their own emotions. It’s always a good idea to share your thoughts and feelings rather than let them eat you away from the inside. The simple act of opening up and talking about the experience might surprise you with its efficacy.
If you’re struggling to understand why you’re feeling depressed or more anxious than usual, talking about it will help. Group sessions are also a great way to learn more about yourself and your potentially internalized trauma. Listening to the struggles of others helps to triangulate your position in the murky waters of post-accident stress.
Going Forward
Learning to forgive is an incredibly potent tool to begin healing. Holding onto negative emotions serves only to waste energy and perpetuates feelings of depression and hopelessness. It’s perfectly natural to harbor dark thoughts about the person who caused you strife, but letting go will serve you much better.
Instead of wishing death and destruction on the person who has made your life a lot harder than it even needed to be, focus on yourself. There’s no changing what has happened, and no such thing as a time machine. If there was, someone would probably find some way to crash into that, too.
Look ahead and focus on healing your wounds, no matter the type you’ve sustained. Focusing your energy on being grateful that things aren’t worse will do you the world of good. You escaped with your life, after all, otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t make the most of the opportunities available to you to salve your position as best as possible. The law exists for a reason and you should take full advantage of it, especially when you’re due monetary compensation at the hands of someone else’s foolishness. To this end, taking the time to research a decent lawyer and have them champion your side is a great idea going forward, you might be surprised at the outcome!
Accidents Happen
Life is full of unexpected moments, not all of them positive. If we buckled under everything that went wrong and gave up, life wouldn’t be worth living. Instead, it’s a much better idea to nurture an appreciation for being here at all and keep our chins up in the face of an unforeseen disaster.
Accident recovery takes time, but with the right mindset, it doesn’t have to take any longer than necessary. If you’ve enjoyed this article, there’s much more where this came from! Check out the rest of our great content today!
