When a vehicle rolls over, the people inside can be thrown around the cabin or completely ejected. Surviving families and victims face massive medical bills, physical therapy costs, and lost wages from missing work.
The experienced Montgomery car accident attorneys at Hunter | Everage help families protect their rights and pursue financial compensation from at-fault drivers and insurance companies.
What Causes Rollover Accidents on Alabama Roads?
Rollover crashes result from a combination of driver behavior, road conditions, and vehicle design:
Alcohol and Drug Impairment
Driving under the influence reduces reaction times, slows reflexes, and impairs judgment. According to federal crash data, nearly half of all fatal rollover accidents involve drivers who have a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit.
Vehicle Design and High Centers of Gravity
Taller vehicles, such as SUVs, pickup trucks, and passenger vans, sit higher off the ground. This top-heavy design makes them pull outward during sharp turns, increasing the risk of lifting the inside tires off the pavement.
Dangerous Rural Road Conditions
Rural highways are prone to rollovers. Roads without dividers, roads with high speed limits, and roads with unpaved or uneven shoulders make dangerous tripping events much more common.
Excessive Speeding
High speeds increase the force of a crash. Around 40% of fatal rollover crashes involve excessive speeding. Speed makes it much harder to keep control of a vehicle during a sudden turn or emergency maneuver.
Types of Rollover Car Accident Injuries
Medical professionals frequently treat severe rollover car accident injuries, including:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs): TBIs can range from concussions to permanent brain damage that alters memory, speech, and motor skills, and occur when the head strikes the roof or windows.
- Spinal Cord Injuries and Paralysis: The crushing force on the vehicle roof can compress the spine. This can fracture vertebrae and sever the spinal cord, leading to permanent paraplegia or quadriplegia.
- Crush Injuries and Broken Bones: When a vehicle’s roof collapses, it can crush legs, arms, and ribs. Compound fractures often require multiple surgeries and hardware to fix.
- Internal Organ Damage: Blunt force trauma can rupture organs like the spleen, liver, or lungs, causing life-threatening internal bleeding.
Who Can Be Held Liable After a Rollover Crash?
Determining who must pay for your losses depends on the specific facts of your accident. Multiple parties can share fault for a single crash.
- Other Drivers: If another motorist cuts you off, tailgates you, or forces your vehicle off the road, that driver can be held liable. Their reckless driving caused the tripping event that flipped your vehicle.
- Government Entities: Alabama cities, counties, and the state government must maintain safe roads. If a rollover happened because of a massive pothole, a missing warning sign on a sharp curve, or an improperly designed shoulder, the government agency responsible for that road might face liability.
- Commercial Trucking Companies: If a commercial truck hits your vehicle or drops cargo, causing you to swerve and roll, the trucking company can be held responsible for its driver’s actions or negligent maintenance.
Product Liability: When a Defective Vehicle Caused the Rollover
Sometimes, a rollover happens even when a driver does everything right. In these situations, the fault lies with the automotive manufacturer or parts designer. This is known as product liability.
A vehicle should protect occupants during a crash. If a vehicle manufacturer sells a car with a weak roof design, the roof can cave in during a rollover, causing severe head and neck trauma. Defective seat belts that unlatch during a roll or airbags that fail to deploy also indicate manufacturing defects.
Another major defect is a flawed suspension system or electronic stability control system that fails to prevent a roll during normal emergency maneuvers. In Alabama, injured victims can sue carmakers, parts manufacturers, and dealerships for distributing a dangerously defective product.
How Alabama’s Contributory Negligence Law Applies to Rollover Cases
Alabama uses a strict legal rule called pure contributory negligence. Under this doctrine, if an injured person is found even one percent at fault for causing the accident, they cannot recover any money from the other at-fault parties.
Insurance companies use this rule to deny valid claims. They will look for any evidence to blame you for your rollover car accident injuries. An experienced rollover car accident attorney will build a case to prove that the other party was completely at fault for the crash.
Steps to Take Immediately After a Rollover Accident in Alabama
The actions you take right after a rollover crash affect both your physical health and your future legal case. You should focus on these steps if you are physically able to do so:
- Call 911 immediately:Call for police officers and emergency medical personnel to come to the scene.
- Seek Medical Attention: Rollover crashes cause internal injuries and concussions that might not show symptoms right away. Let paramedics check you over and go to the nearest emergency room.
- Document the Scene: If you can do so safely, take photographs of the vehicle positions, the damage to your car, the resting position of the roof, skid marks on the road, and the object that caused the vehicle to trip.
- Gather Witness Information: Get names, phone numbers, and statements from anyone who saw the accident happen.
- Avoid Detailed Statements: Do not apologize to the other driver or give statements to insurance adjusters before speaking with a lawyer. Anything you say can be used to argue contributory negligence.
- Contact a Rollover Car Accident Attorney: Consult a lawyer before signing any insurance paperwork or accepting an early settlement offer.
How Can a Car Accident Lawyer Help?
The team at Hunter | Everage handles every part of your insurance claim or lawsuit. Our firm immediately takes over all communication with the insurance companies and gathers evidence to back your claim.
We also compile your medical records and bills to calculate the true financial impact of the crash. This includes your current medical debts, the cost of future physical therapy, and any income you lost from missing work.
If the insurance company refuses to offer a fair settlement that covers these losses, we are prepared to file a lawsuit and present your case in court.
Contact Our Car Accident Lawyer
Do not try to handle the aftermath of a catastrophic crash alone. The state of Alabama sets a two-year time limit, known as the statute of limitations, to file a personal injury lawsuit. If you miss this deadline, you lose your right to seek compensation.
Hunter | Everage provides legal representation to injury victims and families throughout Alabama. Contact our office today at 704-377-9157 to request a free consultation regarding your rollover accident case.
