Fatal Car Accidents
Fatal Car Accidents
Nobody can put a cost on the death of a loved one following a fatal car accident. The personal tragedy, pain and suffering is immeasurable. Whilst the law treats the death of a loved one following a fatal car accident as the same as other tragic accidents, fatal car accidents deserve a particular mention here because of the number of deaths on the Road (about 3,000 per year).
With fatal car accidents the tragedy is often amplified by the fact that the same members of one family and/or close friends are often occupants in the same car. In a number of cases, several family members are killed. The effects are devastating and even more so if the driver of the same family was at fault.
At R James Hutcheon Solicitors we do understand that compensation is often a secondary thought, but making a claim helps maintain financial stability and relieve the financial worry and stress that comes with losing a bread-winning spouse or partner in particular. Who will pay the bills? Who will look after the children?
Often a claim out of financial necessity as well as getting to the truth of what happened tends to be the dominant factors when family dependants instruct solicitors. It’s not just about compensation. Our specialist fatal accident team helps the family achieve a sense of justice by taking action against the Defendant to prove fault and to legally represent the family at the INQUEST to help investigate the cause of death.
Family Claims
Passengers in a car will nearly always be entitled to compensation against the driver of the car they are traveling in, the driver of the other car or both. This is because they are innocent victims which sometimes means that they (or their estate) will have to claim against a family member who was at fault when driving the car they were traveling in. However, and in reality it is the insurance company of the driver who will pay the compensation. If the driver does not have any insurance please see below in respect of “MIB” cases. In such tragic cases a claim for compensation must be considered and expert solicitor representation should be sought.
Uninsured or Untraced Fatal Car Accident Claims (MIB Claims)
A sizable number of fatal and non-fatal but serious accidents result in a driver being uninsured or failing to stop at the scene of the accident. You should not give up hope in claiming compensation as the Motor Insuers Bureau (”MIB”) was set up to compensate victims/family members of car accidents. Compensation will be payable in the usual way.
Who Can Claim?
Not everyone connected to the deceased can claim compensation. The law limits the type of people who can claim. The word “family” and “dependants” are used to describe close family ties with the deceased such as children, wife or husband as this group of family members are often the most affected in a fatal accident claim and usually “dependant” upon the deceased.
Therefore the person(s) who can claim on behalf of the deceased are those close family members who were in some way “dependant” upon the deceased before and at the time of death which include:
· widow/widower
· deceased’s infant children
· parents of the deceased
· any person who was living with the deceased as husband or wife immediately before the accident and was doing so for at least two years prior to the accident
A fatal accident claim on behalf of the deceased can also be made if the deceased would have been able to claim compensation himself/herself at the time of death.
For further reading please click onto the following links on our fatal accident web site:
Estate Claims (claims on behalf of the deceased)
Dependency - Division of Award
Inquest and Coroner Fee Help and Support
For more help and assistance please see links to the right of this page or contact us, see below.
As specialist fatal accident solicitors we can work for free win or lose so you have nothing to worry about. There is a limited time to make a claim so we make it easy for you to contact us. You can fill on our online form, call us free of charge on 0800 083 0626 or alternatively we operate a secure confidential live chat facility (see top right hand of this web site) that you can also use should you feel more comfortable.
You can also email us at: info@hutcheonlaw.co.uk
We hope this web site provides a useful and friendly resource to assist you on your choice of specialist fatal accident solicitors and to answer any query you may have on making a claim.
Some Fatal Road Accident Statistics
The number of fatal road accidents in Britain for 2007, according to the Department of Transport, fell by 7% from 3,172 in 2006 to 2,943. The number of non-fatal serious injuries on the road were 30,720. There were 247,780 road casualties. The number of fatal accidents among car users were 1,431 and non-fatal serious injury accidents 11,536. The number of fatal accidents and non-fatal serious accidents involving children was 3,090, of those 1,899 were pedestrians, 121 children died on the roads. There were 644 pedestrian fatal accidents. Pedal cyclists fatal accidents fell from 146 in 2006 to 136 in 2007, serious non-fatal accidents rose by 6% to 2,428. There were 588 motorcyclists fatally killed, the number of fatal and non-fatal but serious accidents rose on the previous year to to 6,737. All motorcycle accidents was 1% higher at 23,459.
The Cost of road accidents is estimated to about £20,000 million in which 95% are of human error. One is seven people fatally killed on the road have a drink-drive element. There are about 31million vehicles on the road.
