Yolo County Car Accident Lawyer – Michael Rehm
Free Consultations: Call (916) 233-7346
Yolo County sits in the center of one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. Sightseers might venture to take a selfie at the Ziggurat or to see the Canadian Geese at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, but much of the traffic on the highways and county roads in Yolo County is related to agriculture.
Unfortunately, a high concentration of farm trucks on local roads leads to truck accidents. Any traffic accident can have catastrophic consequences, but collisions with trucks are more likely to be fatal than collisions with passenger cars.
Rural counties have a lower traffic accident rate than urban counties. For that reason, the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) rates Yolo County as having one of the best overall accident rates in California, when accident statistics are adjusted to account for differences in population and miles traveled. Surprisingly, however, the OTS ranked Yolo County as having the third worst accident rate for bicycle riders. Like collisions with trucks, bicycle accidents often have fatal consequences.
Whether a traffic accident involves a truck, a passenger car, a bicycle rider, a pedestrian, or a motorcyclist, a traffic accident lawyer can help accident victims obtain the compensation they deserve. Michael Rehm represents traffic accident victims in all Yolo County communities, including Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, and all other collision locations.
Truck Accidents
Fatal collisions involving trucks have recently occurred on I-5 near County Road 99, on the Yolo Causeway, and on Highway 16, among other accident locations. Some of the accidents involved big-rigs while farm trucks were involved in others.
Agricultural trucks and farm equipment frequently use rural highways, while 18-wheelers are common on interstates. Unfortunately, the size and weight of heavy trucks defeats many of the protections against collision injuries that are built into passenger cars. When two cars of equal size collide head-on, the crumple zone built into the front of the cars will absorb some of the energy produced by the crash, lessening the forces that are transferred to the cars' occupants. When a car collides with a heavy truck, however, crumple zones cannot defeat the transfer of momentum from the truck to the car.
Airbags and safety harnesses help car occupants in front end collisions, but a collision with a heavy truck often moves a passenger car backwards and sometimes causes a rollover. Airbags provide momentary protection, but once they deflate, they offer no protection against the forces that cause a car and its occupants to remain in motion.
When truck accident injuries are not fatal, they can be catastrophic. Rollover accidents can crush organs. Head-on collisions can cause traumatic brain injuries. Severed limbs and broken spines can lead to a lifetime in a wheelchair.
Davis Bicycle Accidents
Yolo County is popular with bicycle enthusiasts. Davis is the home of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame and is recognized as a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. Davis is also the start of the 12-mile Davis Bike Loop, while other popular routes pass through Woodland, Winters, and Lake Solano.
While Davis is to be commended for its bicycle infrastructure, many recreational bicyclists in Yolo County share rural roads and highways with passenger cars and trucks. That can lead to serious collisions and may account for Yolo County's high rate of bicycle accidents.
Although many two-lane roads in Yolo County have a “Share the Road” sign to remind drivers that bicyclists may be riding on the shoulder, too many drivers fail to notice bicycle riders. Drivers breeze through intersections without yielding the right of way to bicyclists. They stray from their lane, and into a bicycle rider, while they are reading texts. They exit from parking areas without looking for oncoming bicyclists.
Unfortunately, bicyclists have little protection from injury. Unlike a driver who is surrounded by a steel shell, a bicyclist has only clothing, and possibly a bicycle helmet, to act as a shield against harm. Fatalities are more likely for bicyclists than other traffic accident victims, while broken limbs, dental injuries, and road rash are common outcomes of an accident.
Other Woodland Traffic Accidents
In addition to truck and bicycle accidents, traffic accidents in Yolo County include:
- Car accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
Typical accidents include:
- Rear-end collisions
- Intersection (T-bone) collisions
- Intersection accidents involving right turns in front of motorcycles
- Intersection accidents involving a failure to yield to pedestrians
- Lane change accidents
- Unsafe backing collisions
Common injuries produced by accidents, in addition to those described above, include:
- Neck (whiplash) injuries
- Back injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Broken bones
- Joint injuries
- Disfigurement and facial scarring
- Nerve damage
- Torn and stretched muscles, ligaments, and tendons
Every physical injury causes pain and emotional suffering. Depression, anxiety, and loss of enjoyment of life are common outcomes of a traffic accident.
Fortunately, Davis traffic accident victims are entitled to pursue compensation for injuries caused by a careless driver. Even if the accident victim was partially at fault, California law permits a partial recovery of damages if another driver's negligence contributed to the accident.
Accident Compensation
The purpose of compensation is to make an accident victim whole. Accident compensation replaces lost wages as well as the loss of future earnings. While compensation cannot make injuries heal, it can pay the medical and rehabilitative expenses that are required to promote healing. Compensation cannot cure a disability, but it can pay for wheelchair ramps, caretakers, and the other expenses of coping with a disability.
Money does not reduce pain, but it can offset suffering by improving an accident victim's life. Compensation for pain, suffering, and emotional distress helps injury victims find ways to ease the mental anguish that inevitably accompanies a significant injury.
When a Yolo County traffic accident causes a death, the victim's family members can seek wrongful death compensation. Spouses, children, and certain family members who received financial contributions from the accident victim can seek compensation for the lost financial contributions, the value of lost services, and the lost companionship that the victim would have provided.
Yolo Accident Lawyer
A dedicated traffic accident lawyer can help Yolo County accident victims recover the compensation they deserve. The Law Office of Michael Rehm helps victims of car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents throughout Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, Winters and all of Yolo County. To learn how the Law Office of Michael Rehm can help you, call 916-233-7346 for a free, confidential consultation.