Jenkintown is located in the heart of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about ten miles north of downtown Philadelphia. While Jenkintown takes up just a little more than a half square mile, the city is home to nearly 5,000 residents. And the population of Jenkintown is rapidly growing. Jenkintown is also located right on PA-611, or Broad Street. While this adds to the convenience of living in Jenkintown, it also means that there are a significant number of Jenkintown car accidents.

At MyPhillyLawyer, we represent Jenkintown car accident victims and their families, helping connect them with meaningful compensation and allowing them to move on with their lives more quickly after a serious accident. Our seasoned trial attorneys have decades of combined experience handling some of the most complex and challenging car accident lawsuits, often obtaining favorable results for our clients.

Common Causes of Jenkintown Car Accidents

A car accident can happen anytime, for any reason, often when you least expect it. However, while, to some extent, car accidents strike randomly, they are almost always the result of a driver’s negligence. If everyone had paid close attention to road rules, drivers could have avoided most of Jenkintown’s car accidents. However, the fact that car accidents are so common is evidence that driver often neglects their duties when behind the wheel.

In fact, according to the most recent data released by PennDOT, there were 6,944 car accidents in Montgomery County in 2020. These accidents resulted in over 3,100 injuries and 35 deaths; however, considering the effect on victims’ loved ones, they impacted tens of thousands of lives.

Some of the most common causes of Jenkintown car accidents include:

Drunk Driving Accidents

Drunk driving is one of the most common causes of severe car accidents. According to the Pennsylvania DUI Association, there were 9,380 alcohol-involved crashes in 2019. These collisions resulted in 299 deaths. Of course, every single DUI accident is preventable. Motorists always have a choice when getting behind the wheel after drinking too much. And when they do, they should be held accountable.

Distracted Driving Accidents

Distracted driving occurs anytime a motorist focuses on something other than driving. Some of the most common distractions include:

• Texting;
• Talking on the phone;
• Talking with passengers;
• Catering to the needs of children in the back seat;
• Eating and drinking;
• Reading;
• Scrolling social media;
• Daydreaming; and
• Fiddling with the radio.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, distracted driving claims over 3,000 fatalities per year. However, the number of distracted driving accidents is likely much higher, as law enforcement often fails to identify distracted driving as a cause, even if it played a significant role in the collision.

Aggressive Driving Accidents

Anyone who has spent much time driving around the greater Philadelphia area knows that speeding and other aggressive driving are incredibly common. While speeding is the most common form of aggressive driving, other frequently seen aggressive behaviors include:

• Frequently changing lanes;
• Road rage;
• Tailgating;
• Running cars off the road;
• Running red lights and stop signs;
• Failing to yield the right of way; and
• Brake-checking.

Aggressive drivers often than that their “superior” driving abilities permit them to engage in these dangerous driving behaviors; however, that is not the case—they are merely being reckless. When an aggressive driver causes a Jenkintown car accident, they should be held accountable for their actions.

Common Car Accident Injuries

Car accidents have immediate and long-term effects on accident victims’ lives. Some of the most common injuries car accident victims experience include the following:

Head and Brain Injuries

The force involved in a car accident often causes occupants’ heads to collide with the windshield, the dashboard, or some other hard surface in the vehicle’s interior. This sudden blow to the head can result in a traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, are characterized by the following symptoms:

• A brief loss of consciousness;
• Change in sleeping patterns;
• Bad taste in the mouth;
• Behavioral changes;
• Blurred vision or tired eyes;
• Confusion;
• Dizziness;
• Fatigue;
• Headaches;
• Lightheadedness;
• Ringing in the ears; and
• Trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking.

However, it is not uncommon for there to be no immediate symptoms of a TBI. Thus, it is essential for anyone injured in a Jenkintown car accident to seek primary medical care to rule out the possibility of a severe head injury or brain damage.

Soft Tissue Damage

The body’s soft tissues consist of muscles, fat, tendons, ligaments, and other structures that surround the organs and serve as connection points for bones. Often, soft tissues are damaged in a car accident. The most common soft tissue injuries include whiplash, sprains, and strains. Soft tissue injuries usually heal over time; however, they often require intensive physical therapy courses.

Broken Bones

Broken bones are one of the most common injuries accident victims experience. The force of a car accident is quick enough to break almost any bone in the human body; however, most accident victims break their arms, legs, noses, clavicles, ribs, or pelvis. While some broken bones heal over time with the appropriate medical treatment, complex breaks can leave an accident victim suffering from lingering pain and a reduced range of motion.

If you’ve been injured in a Jenkintown car accident, your initial focus is understandably on your physical recovery. However, the situation can quickly become overwhelming as you begin to heal and the medical bills start rolling in. At MyPhillyLawyer, we can help you navigate the recovery process in pursuit of fair compensation for everything you’ve been through.

Some of Our Recent Successes

At MyPhillyLawyer, we take a client-centered approach to every case we handle, starting with your free consultation. Our Jenkintown personal injury attorneys will take as much time as necessary to fully understand the accident’s impact on your life. This enables us to create a strong claim and ensures that you recover the compensation you need and deserve. While every case is unique, and the amount of damages you may be eligible to recover depends on the specific facts of your case, some of the jury verdicts and settlements we’ve secured on behalf of our clients include:

• $1,125,000.00 – A case involving a high-impact car accident leading to our client suffering a shattered hip socket.
• $850,000.00 – A car crash resulted in our client’s fractured pelvis requiring surgical repair with a rod insertion.
• $640,000.00 – A case involving a car accident resulting from a fractured femur requiring surgical repair.
• $400,000.00 – A case involving an automobile accident resulting in our client’s wrist getting fractured, which required surgical repair
• $365,000.00 – Multiple herniations sustained by our client when an uninsured drunk motorist struck them.
• $360,000.00 – A case involving the death of an elderly pedestrian struck by a negligent driver.
• $325,000.00 – Two accidents involving Philadelphia police vehicles in high-speed chases caused multiple fractured limbs.
• $300,000.00 – A case involving an uninsured motorist claim stemming from an uninsured motorcyclist crashing into a car leading to our client suffering a herniated disc.
• $250,000.00 – A case involving a client who sustained a herniated lumbar disc due to an automobile accident.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I Still Bring a Jenkintown Car Accident Claim if I Was Partially at Fault?

If you shared responsibility for a car accident, you can still most likely bring a personal injury claim against other negligent drivers. This is because Pennsylvania is a comparative negligence state, which means that accident victims can still recover for their injuries as long as they are not more than 51 percent responsible for the collision. However, if a judge or jury finds you were partially responsible for the accident, your total damages award will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

For example, assume that Jim ran a red light and hit Bob’s car as he was passing through an intersection. Drew suffered $200,000 in damages. However, because Bob was speeding at the time and not fully paying attention, the jury found that Jim was 90 percent responsible for the collision and that Bob was 10 percent at fault. In this case, Joe would recover $180,000 rather than the total $200,000 because, under the comparative negligence rule, the court will reduce his recovery amount by 10 percent, or $20,000.

How Long Do I Have to Bring a Jenkintown Car Accident Lawsuit?

Under Pennsylvania law, an accident victim must file a personal injury case two years from the date their claim arises. In most car accident cases, an accident victim’s claim arises on the day of the accident. While you have two years to file a lawsuit, it’s best to do so sooner rather than later. The longer you wait to meet with a Jenkintown personal injury lawyer, the harder it will be for them to gather the evidence needed to prove your case. For example, witnesses may be harder to track, video footage may have been erased, and physical evidence more challenging to locate. Importantly, you only have to file your claim within two years. Once you file a case, you preserve your rights, even if it takes several months or a year to resolve the claim.

Schedule a Free Consultation to Discuss Your Injuries with a Jenkintown Car Accident Lawyer

If you or a family member was recently injured in a car accident, reach out to the Jenkintown car accident lawyers at MyPhillyLawyer. At MyPhillyLawyer, we have decades of experience aggressively pursuing maximum compensation on behalf of accident victims and their families. We are a group of approachable car accident lawyers who will never pressure you to bring a case. We’ve done our job as long as we can fully inform you of your options. If you decide to bring a case with us, we will charge you nothing upfront, and we will only get paid if you do. To learn more and to schedule a free consultation today, call 215-227-2727. You can also reach us through our online contact form.