Whiplash Compensation Won Via No Win No Fee

It is estimated that 20% of all motorists who are involved in a rear-end crash later suffer from whiplash injury. At least 200,000 people in Great Britain suffer from whiplash annually.

Figures from the Association of British Insurers revealed that out of these statistics, more than 2,000 people end up with permanent disabilities.

The average compensation for such an injury is around £66, so it is not surprising that £1.6 billion is spent on whiplash claims every year. These numbers have led to the UK winning the dubious title of the 'whiplash centre' of Europe.

The most common symptoms of Whiplash-Associated Disorders are neck pain and restricted neck movement. These symptoms are felt by up to 90% of people reporting a whiplash-related neck injury.

A study by Australian researchers found that facet joints are the reason for 60% of patients feeling neck pain.

With fears that claims would increase forcing driver's car insurance premiums to go up, road safety groups have introduced 'Save your Neck' day in an attempt to educate drivers on their head restraints and to improve road safety.

"Proper whiplash injuries can take up to 10 years to get better and are usually caused by excessive neck movement at the time of impact. Your seatbelt will stop you going through the windscreen and save your life. Your head rest will reduce the amount of whiplash and get you back to normal life a lot quicker," said Andy Lockey, clinical director at the NHS.

Whiplash injury increase
However, with the average family possessing two cars, the roads are getting busier; and as a result road accidents and whiplash injuries are increasing too.

Only recently a male driver from Rossington was airlifted to hospital after he was involved in a road accident and suffered whiplash damage.

And earlier this month, eight people were taken to hospital on the Isle of Wight suffering from a range of personal injuries from neck pain to whiplash, after a three-car crash.

Successful claim
The more and more injuries that are produced as a result of a collision have spurred many people to rightly seek compensation for property damage and pain and suffering.

As a result, personal injury lawyers have successfully recovered compensation for a male driver through no win no fee claim practice, who was injured in a car accident in North Yorkshire.

The victim suffered whiplash injury and his car was damaged, which needed repairing. Therefore the claim focused on lost wages and injuries.

The accident happened when the man's vehicle was hit from behind by another car. The force of the crash shunted the vehicle forward, leaving the client with a neck and back injury. After receiving six to 12 months of physiotherapy treatment he made a full recovery.

The no win no fee claim was successful and the victim was awarded around £15,500 in compensation. £4,000 was for his injuries and £11,000 towards the cost of repairing his vehicle, lost wages and hiring a replacement car.

No win no fee lawyers touched on the issue that if drivers used their head restraints correctly, whiplash claims could reduce significantly and used findings to support this:

"People often think of their head restraint as head rests. They don't think of them as a safety device, but they are a very important safety device in your vehicle," said Russ Radler, from a research centre.

If you have suffered with whiplash, see if you can make a no win no fee claim.