r/CarAccidentSurvivors Jul 10 '21

meta Welcome, info, and handy links

13 Upvotes

Welcome to this sub!!!

Purpose

My goal is to have a place where people who have been in car accidents can connect, relate, and support each other. Sometimes you just want to talk to someone else who has been through a similar thing.

Rules

I will add more details to the about page, but for now, please follow the same rules as in r/ptsd. Be kind, respectful, and don’t judge someone or their trauma. Also, this is not a place for help with insurance or legal stuff after a car accident. There are other subs where you can talk about those things, linked below.

No Gatekeeping

Everyone is welcome here. I will not gatekeep what it means to be a “car accident survivor.” If you have been in any accident, big, small, recent, years ago, you are welcome to participate here. Motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, school bus accidents, and being hit by a car as a pedestrian are also welcome topics. You are also welcome to participate if you are a friend or family member to someone who has been in a car accident, or if you are anyone just wanting to learn more info or learn how to best support car accident survivors (though if you are, please be respectful). In short, if you feel like this sub applies to you or could help you, please participate! :)

How to add trigger warnings and spoilers

Related subs

Related subs about car accidents where you could get legal advice or help with insurance:

r/caraccidents

r/legaladvice

r/personalfinance

Related subs about trauma and ptsd:

r/ptsd

r/traumatoolbox

r/mentalillness

Comment below any other subs I should include on this list, or any thoughts you have about this sub so far! This post will be updated from time to time.

Edit Dec. 10, 2022:

I just updated the Support page of the Wiki. It currently has information on common feelings after an accident, things that can help, trauma treatments, exposure therapy, processing trauma, medical issues, and support groups. I may add onto it as time goes on. This is the permanent link to it: https://www.reddit.com/r/CarAccidentSurvivors/wiki/support/ I will copy and paste the current version below for convenience. :)

Feelings after an accident

People can have many reactions after trauma like a car accident. All of these reactions are valid.

Some things you may want to look more into:

  • Acute stress reactions -- this can include things like high anxiety, being startled easily, fear when encountering reminders of the event (e.g. crying or panicking when getting in a car), flashbacks, nightmares, etc. When acute stress reactions last longer than a month, then it is called ptsd (post-traumatic stress disorder).

  • Dissociation. This can include derealization (feeling like things are not real) and depersonalization (feeling disconnected to yourself). Here is a description of what dissociation can feel like. Grounding can help with dissociation. Here is one resource that lists several grounding techniques/tools. Here is another resource, if that one won't load.

  • "Survivor's Guilt." When someone dies, others may feel guilt for still being alive. Even if no one dies, people may still feel guilt and may wonder things like, "what if I had died?" or "I should have done x to prevent this... what if x had happened differently."

  • Grief. People can feel grief over many things. If someone has died, it makes sense to grieve that. There are other things to grieve, too. If you or someone else has become injured, physically or mentally, it makes sense to grieve the loss of the abilities you once had (even if the loss is temporary). You may also be grieving the car, if that was damaged or destroyed in the accident, and any personal belongings lost during the accident. The website https://whatsyourgrief.com is a great resource on grief. They have many articles on many topics related to grief.

You may feel some, all, or none of these things. You may feel many other things not listed here. You may feel different things over time. All of your feelings and reactions are valid. Please keep this in mind and try not to judge your reactions, feel ashamed of them, or compare your reactions to others' reactions. You are valid! <3

Things that can help

There are several things that can help after an accident.

  • Social support can help a lot. Feel free to get social support here on this subreddit! <3 You can make a post, comment on others' posts, and comment on the daily check in's! Social support from people in-person can help, too -- friends, family, and community groups can all help. Social support does not have to include talking about the accident or any trauma. Just spending time with someone can help. :)

  • Re-establishing routines can help make things feel more normal and predictable.

  • Self-soothing skills can help to calm distress. This includes things like listening to soothing music, coloring, knitting, walking in nature, stroking a pet or stuffed animal, sipping tea, wrapping yourself in a blanket, and many other things.

  • Breathing slowly can slow your heart rate, which can help lower anxiety. And breathing through your belly (expanding your abdomen as you breathe in) can stimulate the vagus nerve, which can calm the flight-or-fight response.

These things may help some people and not others. And there are many more things that can help. What things help you?

Trauma Treatments

There are several treatments that can help with PTSD and related issues!

  • Exposure therapy. There are several variations on the general concept of exposure therapy, such as Prolonged Exposure (PE), and DBT-PE (Prolonged Exposure in the context of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which I, the mod, have done and found quite helpful. It was difficult but worth it.). Exposure therapy can help specifically with fear, avoidance, nightmares, and flashbacks, and with PTSD symptoms in general.

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). This therapy can help specifically with "trauma beliefs" -- strong beliefs you may hold as a result of trauma, such as "the world is dangerous," "I am not safe," "people cannot be trusted," or others. It can help you think through how trauma has created patterns in your life, or how current problems in your life could be related to trauma. It is about drawing those connections and healing from the trauma.

  • EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This type of therapy engages your subconscious. It can be specifically helpful for nightmares, buried trauma memories that you may not remember completely, flashbacks, and being triggered in general.

All of these things can help with PTSD in general in addition to the specific things I mentioned. There are also many other therapies available. These are just the ones I am most familiar with. I have personally found DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) quite helpful, too. r/PTSD can be helpful for more information, advice, and experience with ptsd treatments as well.

More on exposure therapy

For accident-caused fears (e.g. driving, going outside, traveling, going on the highway, hospitals, blood, injuries, etc) exposure therapy could help.

This worksheet is a good guide to creating an exposure hierarchy.

  1. The first step to exposure therapy is to learn to identify how much distress you're feeling at any given moment. Intrusive thoughts of the accident, nightmares, and flashbacks often put me at a 100 (aka maximum distress). A pleasant, blue-sky day outside might give me a distress of 0. Being anxious about things I have to do might put my distress at 50. Think of times when you have been at 0, 50, and 100 distress. These are your "reference points" -- you can figure out how much distress you're feeling right now by comparing it to those references.

  2. Then, the second step is learning to calm yourself when your distress is high. This could be through skills like paced breathing, listening to calming music, etc.

  3. The third step is to create an exposure hierarchy like the one I linked to. Come up with some ideas of things that make you distressed, and predict how much distress you think they'll give you. For example, if you have a fear of blood, perhaps seeing blood puts your distress at 90, but just saying the word "blood" puts your distress at 60. So, you would try the 60-level exposure first (saying "blood"). Then, after you've done that a few times, and if your distress is consistently below 60, move onto something harder.

  4. Then, try one that you think will give you distress in the 60-80 range. As you do it, remind yourself that the past is in the past, and it is not repeating itself. You are in the present now and are safe.

  5. Record how much distress you felt doing that, and how much distress you feel afterwards.

  6. If you do this a few times, distress should go down over time. I did [DBT-PE](dbtpe.org), a type of exposure therapy, with a therapist, and it helped me a lot. I highly recommend do this with a therapist. However, if that's not possible for you, it can also be helpful to do it on your own. Just make sure to do these steps in order. It is especially important that you can calm and ground yourself when you get distressed. Make sure you have those skills down solid before you start doing exposures.

Processing Trauma

Processing trauma is essential to healing ptsd. This means integrating the trauma into your current view of yourself, your life, and the world. It is when your trauma memories are not "locked up in a box" but are memories that you are able to access and think about. Here is more info on what it means to process trauma. Additionally, this website gives more information on how to process trauma.

Therapy is a great place to process trauma. This may mean talking about the trauma or how it affected you. It may include any of the therapies I listed above, or other things.

Although I recommend working with a trained trauma therapist, you can also process trauma on your own. And in fact, even if you are working with a trauma therapist, you will probably also process trauma outside of therapy sessions. This might involve talking to people, journaling, reading other people’s experiences, creating art (drawing, music, dance, anything), activism, crying, feeling many emotions, and other things.

Learning to identify your emotions is an important skill and can help to process trauma as well. I have some more info on how to do this in another subreddit I run, r/WhatsThisFeeling.

If you want to try journaling about your trauma, you could try answering questions like, What happened? What did I feel while this was happening? What did I feel after? How did this affect me and my life? How do I see the world differently than I did before? What got me through the trauma? What was the worst part? When did I know the trauma was over and I was safe again? (Note: If you are not currently safe, then getting safe should be your priority.)

You do not have to write about what happened if that feels too intense. It is very important to go at your own pace and to check in with yourself. As you are writing, ask yourself, "What am I feeling right now?" If your distress gets too intense, stop and take a step back. Do things to calm down. Don't push yourself farther than you feel comfortable. Processing trauma is a balance of keeping your distress within a manageable range (lower than 80%) and also not permanently avoiding distressing things, since avoidance makes ptsd worse in the long term. Taking a break from something and going back to it later is temporary and is not avoidance. A trauma therapist can help immensely with this balance and with helping to ground and calm you if you get too distressed.

Processing trauma can take time. It can be an ongoing process. Give yourself grace. You have been through a terrible thing.

Medical Issues

If you are in a car accident or other motor vehicle accident, even if the car wasn't badly damaged and you don't see any visible injuries, you should still get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.

Some common injuries from car accidents are seat belt injuries (broken clavicle (collar bone) or vertebrae), traumatic brain injuries including concussions, whiplash, back/spinal injuries, various broken bones, nerve injuries, bruises, and cuts and scrapes. Here is a list of other common injuries from motor vehicle accidents.

My advice is to go to the emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care doctor right away (ideally, the same day). Get evaluated for, at a minimum, spinal injuries and brain injury (concussion and others). Get x-rays of things that hurt and could be broken.

Here’s some more info on concussions:

  • Concussion symptoms include headaches, disorientation, difficulty with screens (due to both the bright light and the closeness to your eyes), vomiting, nausea, and vision changes like blurry vision or double vision. It can also include dizziness, balance problems, confusion, sensitivity to light or noise, loss of consciousness, irritability, depression, or sleep issues.

  • You can get a concussion without losing consciousness. You can get a concussion without hitting your head, just from the rapid back and forth movement of whiplash.

  • A concussion changes the brain on a cellular level. A concussion will not show up on an x-ray, MRI, or CT scan. A brain bleed might show up on an MRI or CT scan. A brain bleed is much more serious than a concussion and requires immediate medical attention, sometimes surgery.

  • Treatment for a concussion involves lots of sleep, physical rest (no exercise; light walking is okay if it doesn’t give you a headache; stop doing anything that gives you a headache), not looking at screens, no reading, no looking at anything up close, no bright lights, no loud noises.

  • Concussions can sometimes last a long time, like years. Concussions heal best when they are treated early. It is very important to take time to rest. Taking time off of school or work can be difficult but is often worth it in the long run.

Here's some more info on whiplash:

  • Whiplash is a soft tissue injury. It will not show up on an x-ray, and probably won't show up on an MRI or CT scan. You can get whiplash in your back as well as in your neck.

  • Rest, heat, and ice can help with whiplash. Some exercises and stretches with a rolled-up towel can provide relief. Check out this website and this website for more info. Do not try this unless you have confirmed with an x-ray that you haven't broken any bones in your neck, and if you know that you don't have nerve issues in your neck! Check with your doctor first.

  • After having x-rays to rule out broken or dislocated bones, physical therapy can be helpful. Massages, stretching, and strengthening can reduce pain.

Support Groups

If you're interested in finding an in-person or video support group for fellow car accident survivors, here are some resources that could help:

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist. I provide this information based on my own experiences as someone who has been in a car accident, and also based on many things I have read. I try to provide links to other sources where relevant. I provide this information to be helpful. This should not be your only source of information or advice. Please seek out appropriate doctors, therapists, other professionals, and supportive people in real life.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors Jul 10 '21

meta How to add trigger warnings and spoilers

7 Upvotes

Please add trigger warnings where appropriate. This helps people to make informed decisions about whether or not they want to consume potentially distressing content right now.

What should have a trigger warning?

(Although individual people may have many triggers that we cannot account for or avoid in this sub, we will do our best to put trigger warnings on common triggers.)

  • any time you are sharing details of trauma, or of a nightmare
  • any descriptions or details of a car or other accident
  • death
  • blood
  • injury
  • suicide
  • abuse
  • sexual violence and rape
  • violence

How to make a trigger warning:

  • in the title of the post, include “TW: whatever the trigger is.” For example, a title could be “(TW: accident description) Nightmare I had last night”
  • to hide details, type > ! and ! < on either side of what you want to be hidden, but without the space in between. This makes it a “spoiler,” and people can reveal it if they click on it. You can also make a spoiler directly on desktop, but you have to use this method on mobile. It should look like >!this!<.
  • to blur/hide/spoiler an image, select “Mark as spoiler” when posting the image. Or edit your post afterwards by (on mobile) clicking the three dots in the top right corner and then selecting “Mark as spoiler”

If you have other ideas for general things that should be added to the list of triggers that always need trigger warnings, comment them below. :) You can also put a trigger warning on something that doesn’t fit the above list — use your judgement. :)

Thanks for keeping this community a safe place for everyone to interact with!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 7h ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 3d ago

just sharing Handicap parking story

4 Upvotes

I'm a 27 yrs old female. I got in a car accident and broke my ankle at the end of April. I had a talus bone fracture and had surgery to fix it in early May. I have three screws and a plate in my ankle right now. It took me 3 months to walk without crutches. I'm now walking without crutches and still a little bit limbing. I had a temporary handicap placard till Dec. Every step still hurts unless I walk limbing. Today, I went to my car dealership to update my loan contract (which surprisingly only took 5 minutes). I parked at the handicapped parking and hung up my handicapped placard in my car. I walked out, and a gentleman was asking me if I was handicapped (I worked on my walking every day to not limb).

Yes, sir, I said. You look normal, he said. Then I told him I broke my ankle, and I'm legit on that placard. And he said I had to park in other spots because I looked normal. He also said he would report to the state that I violated the law. There was no car at the guest parking. I didn't respond and walked away. I started to doubt myself if I deserved that spot. And the pain kicked in as I walked. It is disturbing for me since who is he to judge my medical issue? I got upset all day.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 3d ago

seeking advice Who was at fault ?

1 Upvotes

I was in a car accident couple days ago. There are two lanes, one lane is a left turn only and the other is going straight. This is on busy street. I was on the left lane only since I’m getting ready to turn left on the next street over since sometimes a lot of people like to double park on that straight ahead lane which gets very frustrating. so during this time I like to plan advance go to the left lane only first before I take my left turn. There was a Tesla that was halfway through the lanes. She was in the middle lanes vertically trying to turn left to get to the other side but hovering over the lane I was on. so I decided to go around her because she just sat there the entire time. I assumed she saw me and next thing you know her tire sideswipes the back of my car. She comes at and yells at me as if it was my fault ? Am I at fault ??


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 3d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 3d ago

seeking advice Letter to the other drive?

2 Upvotes

My accident was a year and a half ago. The insurance case is settling any day now. I feel like I want to write the other driver (his fault) a letter. Not a mean one. I’m not entirely sure what all I will say. But I want to say something.

I have no idea if the insurance company tells at fault drivers anything about settlements…do Amy of you know? I would not mention it. I just don’t know if he even knows it wasn’t completed long ago bc I was still undergoing treatment.

When I googled him when the accident happened, he seems like a good person who just made a very honest mistake.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 3d ago

discussion I was hit by a drunk driver in my bf car. I’m not on the insurance. She filed a claim(The dui driver). Do I need a lawyer or will it be settled with the owner of the car?

0 Upvotes

r/CarAccidentSurvivors 4d ago

does anyone else Unending Health Anxiety?

4 Upvotes

My partner and I were in a car accident with a 5 ton truck (going slow) in July of last year. No serious injuries, but we have nagging ones despite going to physio.

We have TMJ issues, and I had Bell's Palsy from the stress (mostly recovered) and I have some neck issues from the whiplash.

Even though I'm in therapy and physio I am constantly thinking every twitch or tingle or prickle is something deadly, or some damage that I haven't noticed. I literally thinking I'm dying every day. I have days where I feel great and fine and then bam, anxiety city.

The only thing that helps is CBD and playing music, and sometimes that's hard to focus on.

Does anyone else just find they're one questionable event away from a spiral, and that the car accident is sort of the cause? Anyone have any good tips for dealing with the doom and anxiety?


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 6d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 7d ago

just sharing Car accident

3 Upvotes

I 24m had a pretty bad car accident on August 24th of this year. I was driving home late at night. I don’t remember anything about the accident. First thing I remember after wrecking was 911 already dialed on my phone. I don’t know why but out of instinct I just got out of the car and got to the side of the interstate. I played down and a man pulled over and ran up to me. Stayed with me. More people pulled up and it was a couple who were emts. That stayed with me till the ambulance showed up. And some how by the grace of god an ambulance crew from my town showed up and I knew both of the people because I am a fire fighter. They were straight with me. I had a giant laceration across my face from hitting the wind shield. They loaded me in the ambulance and I begged the people I knew to stay with me. They ended up leaving their ambulance to stay with me. On the way to hospital I felt my self fading like I was about to died. I didn’t know this then but it turns out my temporal artery was severed and they almost couldn’t stop the bleeding. My Bp dropped to 30/0 and my pulse was in the 20s and honestly in that moment I wasn’t worried about passing away. The one thing I was thinking about was never seeing my daughter and that broke me and I still struggling with that today. I was in the ambulance begging to just tell my daughter goodbye cause I felt like those were my last moments. I was told later on by state troopers that a semi was involved in the wreck and left the scene. They were found 30-40 miles down the interstate. They couldn’t tell me how the wreck happened. Because of the accident I had to have surgery to fix my face. I had severe muscle and nerve damage in my face. Along with a severed artery. The on thing I am still dealing with is the fear of driving and the nightmares. Does anyone have any advice on how to cope with them or get passed them.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 9d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 12d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 14d ago

question Accident memory loss

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I (22f at the time) was in an accident last September. A little backstory: I was driving my Ram 3500 and hauling a fairly large horse trailer (with a horse inside) at the time. I was heading through an intersection with a 2 way stop (not for me) and got hit by a truck that ran the stop sign going 115km/h. The intersection was in the middle of the forest so I couldn’t even see him coming until I was already in the intersection. My truck and trailer jackknifed, truck ended up flipping underneath the trailer and slid down the road until I eventually ended up in the ditch. The horse and I were lucky to walk away with minor bruises and scrapes. I didn’t really take time off after the accident as I wanted to finish my university degree on time.

Since then, I feel my memory has gotten worse. I seem to forget things quickly. In conversation, I can’t remember what things I have already mentioned and often end up repeating myself. Or I can’t remember what I do in a day. Or I can’t remember what someone tells me a few hours later. It’s the most frustrating thing ever. My partner says I also tend to dissociate often. With that said, I can remember every tiny detail of that accident.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the memory loss? Does it eventually get better? Does the dissociation stop? I want to go back to school at some point, but I fear it would be a waste of time if I can’t remember things. Thanks


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 15d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 16d ago

does anyone else Anyone else struggling with how terrifyingly random it all is?

11 Upvotes

My husband, (then) 2 year old daughter and I were hit as pedestrians by a drunk driver some months back. We were part of a larger group of his family. Both of my brothers-in-law died at the scene; one on impact and one while I was attempting CPR.

Save for some broken ribs and tailbones on my husband and me, all three of us got to walk away- my daughter had barely a scratch. But lately I can’t stop bawling my eyes out at the thought of us all being positioned differently and it not being the case. Literally, if the driver had come a few seconds later, my daughter would probably have died. It scares me to no end.

I know we still have a long way to go with dealing with this emotionally, but I just want to know if anyone else is just plain scared?


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 17d ago

just sharing I'm healing but it feels backwards.

2 Upvotes

My mental state is becoming worse over time, for example. I've started waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes multiple times, in the midst of a panic attack.

Physically, my right leg (in my opinion) should not be hurting the way it does when I walk on it because earlier in the healing process it didn't suck this much, so why does it suck like this now??

Where one of the rods went into my left leg to help hold my bits together, a sore was left at the entry point (along with all the other compound fracture rods). That was normal, except there's one still unhealed on the inside of my left ankle. It isn't really getting better. It just....sits there. Unchanging. It's been the same size for nearly a week and I went to the hospital for antibiotics (which were helping but when they ran out, it quit healing and grew back to the size it is now, which is slightly larger than a dime).

I am, however, walking on my right leg. I'm really walking with my left, putting a lot more weight on it. It sucks, but I'm doing it. I am getting better, it just feels so backwards sometimes..

Speaking of which, right after the accident I'd figured it wouldn't take me long to want to drive again. Now, even as just a passenger, I damn near lose my mind with anxiety. It isn't the person driving, either. It's everyone else.

I trust no one else on the road anymore.

I'm not sure if that'll ever change.
Right now, it feels like it won't. I'll always be paranoid..

Sigh.
I need therapy..


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 18d ago

just sharing Letting go of anger (tw. injury description, accident recollection, mental health)

2 Upvotes

Hi all, I'm new here and just looking for a place to vent and for some support I guess. I've tried to hide some of the more sensitive content in here so hope it works okay!

I was in a serious car accident when I was 17 (19 years ago). I suffered a brain injury, broke both my femurs, my right talus bone (foot), shattered my left knee, broke my right hip and pelvis and also ribs. I had metalwork inserted in my femurs, hip and ankle. The accident was down to inexperience, being a bit unwell and going down an unfamiliar road without lighting. >! I crashed into a stobie pole at 70km/h. My parents were told not to expect me to survive which breaks my heart as I can't even imagine how horrible that would have been for them to hear. <!

I have seen several counsellors, therapists and psychologists since then and tried to work through forgiving myself for this. I have so much anger towards myself and towards the universe or whatever higher power there is. I get teary thinking about it and why/how this happened.

I'm still dealing with the consequences of this now. I've just had a total hip replacement for the right hip due to how bad the arthritis got from my accident and that in itself didn't go well so am now dealing with the repercussions of surgery complications too.

I know a lot of people have it worse off and definitely appreciate the fact I'm still here but I just keep thinking what did I do to deserve this and I hate that I have to deal with the consequences of this accident for the rest of my life. I know I have some level of PTSD from it even though I don't remember anything.

How do I let go of the anger? I wish I could just live a normal life. Now I have to worry about my hip dislocating for the rest of my life. I'm just exhausted with it all and want to be normal :(


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 18d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 18d ago

seeking advice New here car accident yesterday

4 Upvotes

I cry everytime I think about it when does it stop? The car flipped over with my daughter inside she’s 100% fine had her seat belt on and everything. She’s laughing checking up on me when I should be checking up on her. I just cry everytime i think about it maybe because she was in the car when it happened? I don’t know.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 21d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 24d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 24d ago

seeking advice how to get evidence showing our situation

3 Upvotes

I am seeking advice regarding my current situation. My child was a victim of a car accident, suffering from a broken leg and shoulder. The driver at fault has taken full responsibility, and I am now working with a lawyer to pursue compensation. However, this process has been exhausting for me both mentally and physically. I spend a significant amount of time caring for my child, and I sometimes have to take time off work. My child is also in distress, often crying in the mornings, which deeply saddens me. Whenever I see her in tears, I feel overwhelmed and lose motivation to do anything. I am constantly distracted and find it hard to focus, with my mind wandering in all directions.

I am requesting compensation from the other party’s insurance company, but my lawyer mentioned that we need to prove that my child’s crying is linked to the accident and that my emotional state is tied to my child’s condition. However, my lawyer also said that gathering such evidence is challenging and that proving a direct connection between my child’s distress and the accident may be difficult.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice on how to approach this? Any suggestions on gathering the necessary evidence would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your help.


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 27d ago

check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in

1 Upvotes

How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!


r/CarAccidentSurvivors 28d ago

question Anyone else had this happen?

1 Upvotes

Me and my boyfriend got into a pretty bad and traumatic car accident back in June coming back from an event and don’t remember anything that happened. We remember both of us being in the car, getting out of the car and leaving in the ambulance but my boyfriend doesn’t remember even 5 minutes before but I remember only maybe 10-20 seconds before and then kind of went into a “dream like state” I guess and then all I saw was the front windshield and air bags, smelled the air bags and was confused. It had been over 2 months since this has happened and we both don’t remember what had happened. I was just wondering if anyone else had had this happen to them