As a California motorist, you know that accidents happen all too frequently on our crowded highways and freeways. Some of the most brutal ones involve vehicles that burst into flame on impact or immediately thereafter. Should you ever become a victim of one of these fiery crashes, your face an extremely high risk of receiving catastrophic burns.
Four Types of Burns
- Scald burns - resulting from your body coming into contact with your vehicle’s hot liquids such as gasoline or even extremely hot coffee
- Thermal burns - resulting from your body coming into contact with the flames themselves or one of your vehicle’s hot interior surfaces
- Electrical burns - resulting from your body coming into contact with one of your vehicle’s electrical wires or a downed power line
- Chemical burns - resulting from your body coming into contact with one of your vehicle’s caustic fluids such as oil, antifreeze, or transmission or steering fluid
Given the enclosed space of your car and the number of things in it that can catch fire and/or become hot enough to burn, you could suffer all four types of burns.
Degrees of Burns
Any of these four types of burns can and likely will be severe enough to result in a third or fourth-degree burn to your affected body part(s). In a third-degree burn, the fire, wires, or hot surfaces or liquids not only scorch your skin but also burn your underlying tissues, tendons, and nerves. This nerve damage is the reason why many severely burned people do not feel the excessive pain one might expect them to feel. Fourth-degree burns go all the way down to your bones.
Extraordinary Medical Costs
Due to the immediate bodily damage burns cause and the often disfiguring scars they leave, your medical costs quickly skyrocket when you become a burn victim. Your only hope of recouping your medical costs may well be to file a lawsuit against the driver who caused your car accident.
Call the experienced legal team at Sweeney, Sweeney & Sweeney, APC at (951) 800-7731 to schedule your free case evaluation today!