How To Make A Claim After A Road Traffic Accident

If you’ve been injured in a road traffic accident that wasn’t your fault, you may be wondering how to claim compensation for a car accident or accident with a different vehicle. You could receive compensation by making a personal injury claim. Whether you’ve been injured by a car in a bike accident or suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident due to negligent driving, you have every right to see what you could receive. This guide will show whether you could make a road traffic accident claim. 

It will answer important questions, such as: 

  • What are the benefits of having a No Win No Fee agreement? 
  • How can No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors help me receive compensation?
  • Can I also claim psychological damage caused by the accident, like a fear of cycling after an accident? 
  • I was a passenger in a car accident, can I claim?
  • What kind of compensation could I receive if I’ve suffered whiplash? 

Our advisors offer free legal advice and are available 24/7, so if you have any queries about car accident claims, such as wanting to know your eligibility, please contact us using the details below. 

  • You can call us. 
  • Write to us using the Live Chat function on the right-hand side of your screen.  
  • Contact us via our website. 

Please read on to find out how a personal injury lawyer could help you in the car accident claims process. 

Select a Section

  1. How Do Collisions Happen On The Road?
  2. Who’s Covered By Road Traffic Accident Law?
  3. How Can You Prove A Road Traffic Accident Claim?
  4. Can You Claim Against An Uninsured Driver?
  5. What Are The 2021 Whiplash Reforms?
  6. Make A No Win No Fee Road Traffic Accident Claim
  7. Get Free Advice On Making A Road Traffic Accident Claim
  8. More Resources on Personal Injury Claims

How Do Collisions Happen On The Road? 

Making a successful road traffic accident claim isn’t simply about being in a road traffic accident. It’s about being able to prove that another road user’s negligence caused the accident to happen, which led to your injury.

Every road user has a duty of care as defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and The Highway Code. These rules define safe road conduct. Every road user is expected to follow the principles described within these documents. Therefore, any road conduct that does not adhere to the standards set out could be breaching their duty of care. Any act that breaches the duty of care can be seen as negligent if it leads to injury due to its reckless nature. 

If you want car accident claims advice, please call our advisors for free legal advice. They are available 24/7, so you can call them at a time that works for you. 

Who’s Covered By Road Traffic Accident Law?

road traffic accident claim statistics graph

There are different types of road users, including: 

  • Car users
  • Pedal cyclists
  • Motorcyclists
  • Pedestrians

All road users can be involved in a road traffic accident (often referred to as an RTA). The Department for Transport supplies road traffic accident statistics for Great Britain every year to assess the nature of road conduct. As you can see above, people in cars accounted for over 64,000 reported casualties on the road last year. Pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists accounted for over 44,000 casualties last year on the road. 

Examples of incidents that could lead to you making a road traffic accident claim include:

  • Being injured by a car due to the car going above the speed limit as you’re crossing the road. 
  • A car swerving into you due to it turning onto a roundabout at the wrong time. This could cause you to fall off your motorcycle or bike and injure yourself.
  • Another car slamming into your vehicle due to the other driver failing to check their mirrors as they reverse out of a space, leading to your injuries.

These events could lead to you contacting a personal injury solicitor.

Therefore, whether you’ve been injured while cycling or you’ve suffered a pedestrian accident, you may still be owed thousands of pounds in compensation if another road user’s negligence caused the accident. This is where our panel of No Win No Fee lawyers could help you. Call us now to see if you’re eligible to make a claim. 

How Can You Prove A Road Traffic Accident Claim?

Negligence is the basis of making a No Win No Fee compensation claim. To claim compensation, you’d need to show that another road user’s negligence has led to you being injured. As such, to make a successful claim, all three criteria below needs to be met:

  1. The third party you want to claim against needs to have a duty of care towards you. 
  2. The act they performed needs to have breached their duty of care. 
  3. This act needs to have resulted in you being injured. 

You can establish this by using evidence, such as CCTV footage, dashboard cameras, witness reports and photographs. The more evidence you compile, the greater the chance you have of receiving cycling accident compensation, for instance. 

The Limitation Act 1980 outlines the time limit you have to make a successful road traffic accident claim. You generally need to begin claims proceedings either: 

  1. Within three years
  2. Or within three years of you being made aware of the injury being caused by negligence. 

This latter could be applicable to your case, for example, if you’ve suffered internal damage from a cycling injury caused by a road traffic accident that you might not have been aware of until later. 

Can You Claim Against An Uninsured Driver?

Usually, you make a compensation claim through a driver’s insurer. However, you may be wondering if you can claim against an uninsured or untraceable driver. If the driver has no insurance or drove off without sharing their details with you, you can still claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (also known as the MIB). They not only help with claiming but actively attempt to remove uninsured or untraceable drivers off the road. 

A solicitor can help you through the MIB process. As with any personal injury claim, you could claim for both physical and psychological damage caused by the injury as well as any financial losses suffered due to it.

What Are The 2021 Whiplash Reforms?

There is one other aspect to bear in mind if you’re looking to make a road traffic accident claim. If your injuries come to less than £5,000, you will need to claim through a different method. This is due to The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. 

As with any claim, the amount you could receive depends on how long the injury has negatively affected you and how many injuries you’ve sustained. You can also claim if you’ve been injured by being a passenger in a car during an accident, so long as the accident wasn’t your fault. You could claim against the driver of the vehicle you were in if they caused the accident, or the other driver if they caused it.

Below is a list of the compensation amounts you could receive, based on how long you’ve suffered from your injury. We’ve included neck injuries that could relate to whiplash as well as other injuries.

The figures for the compensation table below have been taken from the Judicial College Guidelines. Legal professionals use this publication to help them value injuries. It contains a list of recommended compensation for different types and levels of injury.

Injury Severity Potential Compensation Comments
Hand (a) Total or Effective Loss of Both Hands £132,040 to £189,110 Serious injury that causes both hands extensive damage, rendering them little more than useless.
Shoulder Severe £18,020 to £45,070 Often associated with neck injuries resulting in marked disability.
Arm (d) Simple Fractures of the Forearm £6,190 to £18,020 Simple fractures of the forearm
Neck Minor (iii) Up to £2,300 A full recovery is made within 3 months.
Neck Minor (i) £4,080 to £7,410 The claimant fully recovers within 1 to 2 years.
Neck Moderate (ii) £12,900 to £23,460 Soft tissue injuries that are more severe and result in permanent symptoms.
Brain Less Severe Brain Damage £14,380 to £40,410 The person has made a fair recovery and is able to have a typical social and work life.

We completely understand if you’d like a more accurate estimate of what you could receive. If you have any queries about issues such as cycling accident claims or if you want a reliable compensation estimate, please call our advisors. They’re available 24/7 for free legal advice using the phone number above. They can put you through to our panel of No Win No Fee lawyers in the UK who could help you receive compensation. 

Make A No Win No Fee Road Traffic Accident Claim

You may be wondering, ‘What are the benefits of using a No Win No Fee solicitor to make a road traffic accident claim?’ Our panel of lawyers and solicitors use a Conditional Fee Agreement for their services. It means that:  

  • Your solicitor will not request their legal fees during the claim or beforehand. 
  • Instead, they will take a small, legally capped portion of the compensation as payment. 
  • They also won’t request legal fees from you if your claim is unsuccessful. 

Therefore, to prevent wasting anyone’s time, they will only work on your road traffic accident claim if they feel you have a reasonably good chance of success. So if your claim is accepted on a No Win No Fee basis, it could be that you have a good chance of winning compensation.

Get Free Advice On Making A Road Traffic Accident Claim

Our advisors offer free legal advice and are available 24/7 so, if you have any queries, please contact us at a time that suits you. They can also put you through to our panel of No Win No Fee lawyers in just a matter of minutes. In comparison, searching “No Win No Fee lawyers near me” may result in it taking longer for you to find legal representation. Call us now to see if you could receive thousands of pounds in compensation.

  • You can call us.
  • Write to us using the Live Chat function on the right-hand side of your screen.  
  • Contact us via our website. 

More Resources On Personal Injury Claims

For more information relating to making a road traffic accident claim, please use the links below. 

Want to see more road traffic accident statistics? If so, visit the Department for Transport website. 

Visit the NHS website for more information on how to treat a broken bone. 

More road safety data can be found here. 

Why not check out more of our road traffic accident claims guides below:

Written by VIC

Published by DUR