How long should it take to pay out for a whiplash injury?

A long-serving lifeboatman whose voluntary career was ruined by a car crash has finally received compensation, nearly four years after the initial accident. The man, who was a senior helmsman for the RNLI, was a decorated member of the service. But all that changed after his car was hit from behind on a dark, rainy November night in 2005. The force of the accident damaged his spine, leaving him unable to pass RNLI medical checks and cutting short his service to the organisation.

The man had no obvious signs of injury after the event, but after a few days began to suffer from back and neck pain. An x-ray at his local hospital showed that his spine had been forced into an 'S' shape, compounding a whiplash injury and leading to over two years of treatment. He was unable to return to his position within the RNLI because the motion of the boat would have resulted in further injury to his neck.

Finally, in 2009 the man received compensation of £6,000 from the other driver's insurance company. The real question in all of this is - why did it take four years for the compensation claim to be resolved?

Unfortunately for many people suffering from whiplash injuries, the other party often disputes the nature of the injury. For many years, whiplash has been seen as a 'quick claim' option and because there have been conflicting viewpoints from medical experts as to the true nature of whiplash and its possible long-term effects, many claimants have hit a brick wall when it comes to pursuing a claim.

However, things are finally changing, with the medical profession now having a positive definition as to the effects of whiplash and its causes. Prolonged studies have been carried out and in a landmark case, a legal definition of whiplash was recently presented as acceptable to the courts and now forms the basis for all future claims.

This major step forward in an acceptable definition of the causes and effects of the injury mean that those suffering from whiplash may not be forced to wait for so long in future to receive the compensation that they both deserve and need. In this case, the man had to undergo two years of treatment and has had to give up an important and life-saving role within his community. Was £6,000 enough for that? Well, this is where whiplash injury compensation still has a distance to travel.

Medical experts are only just exploring the impact of whiplash injuries in the long term. There have been several cases in recent times where it has been proven that whiplash injuries do have lasting consequences, particularly if the sufferer has had a previous similar injury.

We don't yet know enough about the central nervous system and the spine to determine when and if prolonged injury will occur in every case, but it is obvious that in some cases that even a low-speed impact can have a long-term effect. This is why it is essential to take any injury of this nature seriously and to get expert advice as soon as possible, even if you've just been involved in what could be classed as a minor 'fender bender'.

Expert opinion isn't just required in the legal aspect - a claims solicitor will have access to medical experts who have experience in dealing with whiplash injuries. It is their opinion, along with that of your GP, that will help to determine how much of an impact the injury may have in the long term and how much compensation you deserve as a result.

Car manufacturers are doing their utmost to implement safety systems that will reduce the chances of whiplash injury and medical expertise in the treatment of whiplash is improving. By reducing the opportunities for injury to occur (through the use of correctly position head restraints and other safety features), perhaps the UK can finally start to see a drop in the 1,200 claims per day that are pursued for whiplash injuries, as well as a reduction in the time it takes to successfully complete a claim.