By Danielle Graves. Last Updated 4th December 2023. You may be entitled to compensation if another motorist caused you to become injured in a car crash on the motorway. However, you will need to prove that the accident directly resulted from a breach of duty of care.
Car Crash On The Motorway Claims Guide
In this guide, we will explain the duty of care all road users owe one another when using the roads. Additionally, we share examples of the evidence you could use to help support your claim. Furthermore, we will explore the various benefits of claiming with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.
If you have any questions about starting a compensation claim or would like to receive free legal advice regarding your potential claim, contact our advisors today. Our friendly team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help you.
Contact our advisors today by:
- Calling on 0161 696 9685
- Using our live chat to talk to an advisor.
- Or you can contact us online.
Select A Section
- What Could I Claim For A Car Crash On The Motorway?
- Who Could Claim For An Accident On The Motorway?
- Is There A Time Limit To Claim For A Car Accident On A Motorway?
- What Evidence Could Help Me In A Car Accident Claim?
- What Injuries Could A Car Crash On The Motorway Cause?
- Why Contact Legal Helpline About Your Motorway Injury Claim?
- Find Out More About Claims For A Car Crash On The Motorway
What Could I Claim For A Car Crash On The Motorway?
Car accidents can lead to serious injuries that can greatly impact your quality of life. This is why it’s important to know that you can make a car crash claim if your injuries were caused by another driver’s negligence. Compensation from a personal injury claim can come from up to two different avenues: general and special damages.
General damages could compensate you for the pain and suffering you have experienced If you have been injured in a car crash on the motorway.
When valuing claims, many legal experts will refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document states compensation guidelines for different injuries, and the figures are based on previous successful claims from England and Wales.
The table below largely consists of compensation brackets taken from the latest JCG guidelines which highlight how much compensation you could receive. As shown, the amount of car accident compensation given due to an injury or injuries sustained by negligence depends on factors like:
- The extent of the injury
- How badly the injury has impacted your everyday life
- To what degree your injury is permanent or life-changing in nature.
The top entry, however, has not been taken from the JCG.
Please bear in mind that the last two entries of the table have been taken from for tariff in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 and are fixed amounts. Further in this guide, we will take a closer look at these regulations and the impact they have.
However, you should only use these compensation brackets as a guide, as the compensation you could receive may differ.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Compensation Guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple severe injuries and expenses | Very Serious | Awards may include compensation for multiple injuries of a severe nature, plus the financial losses these have causes, such as money spent on specialist equipment and the injured party's lost wages. | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe | The injured party has no meaningful response to their environment and other symptoms requiring full time nursing care. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Back | Severe (i) | A severe injury causing damage to the nerve roots and spinal cord, resulting in serious consequences. | £91,090 to £160,980 |
| Back | Severe (iii) | Disc fractures or lesions of vertebral bodies that lead to chronic conditions. | £38,780 to £69,730 |
| Foot | Severe | Both feet/heels are fractured, which causes a significant restriction on mobility. | £41,970 to £70,030 |
| Arm | Serious | A permanent residual cosmetic or functional disability caused by one/both forearms suffering a serious fracture. | £39,170 to £59,860 |
| Arm | Less Severe | A significant recovery will occur (or is expected to ) after suffering serious disabilities. | £19,200 to £39,170 |
| Leg | (b)(iv) Moderate | Complicated/multiple fractures or serious crush injuries to a singular leg. Several factors, will affect the amount awarded. | £27,760 to £39,200 |
| Whiplash Injury | With Psychological Injuries | More than 15 months but not more than two years. | £4,345 |
| Whiplash Injury | Without Psychological Injuries | More than 15 months but not more than 2 years. | £4,215 |
Can Victims Of Road Traffic Accidents Claim Special Damages?
You could also be compensated with special damages for any of the financial losses you have experienced due to your injury. You only receive special damages compensation in a successful claim if you have proven that your injuries were caused by driver negligence. Some of the losses you could claim for include:
- A loss of earnings.
- Medical expenses.
- Home adaptations.
- Travel costs.
However, these losses must have been directly caused by your injury, and you must provide sufficient evidence about them. Evidence could include payslips, bank statements, and receipts.
To learn more about potential car accident claims or to see if you’re able to claim car accident compensation yourself, please speak to our advisors for free using the above details.
Who Could Claim For An Accident On The Motorway?
To be eligible to make a compensation claim following a car crash on the motorway, you will need to prove the following:
- Another road user owed you a duty of care.
- This fellow road user then breached their duty of care.
- Due to this, you were injured in a road traffic accident. These criteria form the basis of negligence.
All road users have a duty of care. Road users include drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists. Per this duty, they must follow the rules set out for them in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code. This is to help avoid accidents and encourage road safety.
If another driver were to breach this duty of care, as a result of, for example, dangerous driving, you could be injured in a car accident. Later in this guide, we will provide some examples of the injuries you could suffer.
What Impact Could The Whiplash Reform Programme Have On Your Right To Claim?
This section will discuss whiplash injury claims and how you claim for minor injuries or whiplash caused as a result of negligence on the road.
If you were injured as a driver or passenger of a car and over the age of 18, with an injury valued at £5,000 or less, the way you make your claim has changed. This is due to the introduction of the Whiplash Reform Programme and only applies to road traffic claims made in England or Wales.
Additionally, your injury will be valued in line with the tariff of injuries that are set out in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. If your injury is valued at over £5,000, such as, for example, a serious neck injury or multiple soft tissue injuries, you would pursue your claim as any other personal injury claim.
Do not hesitate to contact our advisors today if you have more questions about whiplash claims or if you’re unsure how much your whiplash injuries could be worth.
Is There A Time Limit To Claim For A Car Accident On A Motorway?
If you are eligible to make a claim for a car accident on the motorway, you must initiate civil proceedings before the time limit expires. This is set out in the Limitation Act 1980. For personal injury claims, this is generally three years from the accident date.
However, in circumstances where an injured party cannot handle legal proceedings themselves, the limitation period to claim car accident compensation is suspended. At any time within the time limit is suspended, a litigation friend can file a claim on behalf of these parties. These parties include:
- Children below the age of 18 who have the time limit paused until their 18th birthday. That means a child will have three years from the date they turned 18 to launch a claim if a litigation friend did not do so already.
- Those without the mental capacity to bring forward their own civil claim have the time limit suspended indefinitely. However, if they recover the capacity necessary to claim, they will have three years from the date of this recovery to begin proceedings if a litigation friend has not made a claim for them.
If you have any questions about time limits, or to find out if you are still within the limitation period to start your claim, speak to a member of our advisory team. We’re available 24/7 to help you.
What Evidence Could Help Me In A Car Accident Claim?
In order to make a successful car accident claim, you need to prove that your injuries were the result of driver negligence. To do this, you need sufficient evidence. Evidence that could be used to claim car accident compensation includes:
- A police report reference number.
- Any dashcam or CCTV footage of the accident.
- Medical records showing the extent of your injury.
- Photographs of the accident site and your injury.
- Accounts of how the accident occurred from potential witnesses.
Car accident claims, as with any personal injury claim, revolve around having enough evidence in order to prove how your injuries were caused. Our panel of car accident solicitors can help you collect evidence during the claims process to help build your case. To learn more about how they could help you, please contact them for free using the above details.
Can I Claim Car Accident Compensation As A Passenger?
This section will discuss whether you’re able to claim car accident compensation as a passenger in a car.
If your sustained injuries were caused by driver negligence, you can claim as a passenger after being involved in a car accident. It doesn’t matter whether the accident was caused by the driver of the car you were in or the other driver was the one that caused the car accident.
For example, if the driver of the vehicle you were in was driving above the speed limit, causing you to suffer whiplash injuries, you may be able to make a potential claim. This would also be the case if the other driver was at fault.
Similar to other car accident claims, you would still need to prove that your injuries were caused by negligence. As with injury claims in general, you would still need to provide evidence. The only way you wouldn’t be able to claim is if you, as the passenger, somehow caused the accident to occur.
What Injuries Could A Car Crash On The Motorway Cause?
Following a car crash on the motorway, you could suffer various injuries, such as:
- Breaks and fractures – such as a broken arm or broken collarbone.
- Sprains and strains – such as a sprained wrist.
- Scrapes, cuts or puncture wounds – for example, if your windshield shatters in the accident, you could be cut by the glass.
- Head or brain injury.
- A back injury – such as a slipped disc or damaged spinal cord.
- A neck injury
These are just some of the injuries you could sustain from a road traffic accident. No matter the injury, you must prove that you sustained it due to another road user’s negligence.
Contact one of our advisors if you have any questions regarding road traffic accident claims.
Can I Claim For A Motorway Accident Caused By An Uninsured Driver?
This section will provide you with more information about claiming against an uninsured driver. Usually in a road traffic accident claim, the claimant receives compensation through the negligent driver’s insurance company. This is because, in a road traffic accident or motorway accident, any driver involved in an accident needs to stop to exchange insurance details.
As such, you may be wondering, “How can I make a successful personal injury claim if the driver responsible is uninsured or doesn’t stop?” In these instances, you would claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB.)
The JCG is still used to determine the amount of compensation you could receive for these types of motorway accident claims. As such, you won’t lose out on compensation just because a driver didn’t stop or they were uninsured.
To learn more about making a road traffic accident claim or how to claim through the Motor Insurers Bureau, why not give us a call? You can contact us for free using the above details.
Why Contact Legal Helpline About Your Motorway Injury Claim?
You can contact one of our friendly advisors today to see whether you could make a claim following a car crash on the motorway. If they believe you could be eligible for compensation, they could put you in contact with a personal injury solicitor from our panel who could assist you with your case. They have a vast amount of experience dealing with various road traffic accident claims. Furthermore, they could offer you a type of No Win No Fee agreement called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
When making a claim with a conditional fee agreement, you are not expected to pay any upfront or ongoing solicitor service fees. Additionally, you are not obligated to pay for the solicitor’s services if the claim fails. However, you will pay a success fee to the solicitor if they are successful with your claim. The success fee is a legally capped percentage deducted from your compensation.
Do not hesitate to contact one of our advisors today if you have any questions about claiming compensation or making a car accident claim.
Contact Us About Making A No Win No Fee Claim
If you are still unsure whether you could make a claim after being involved in a road traffic accident, contact our advisors today. Our friendly team can offer you free legal advice. They could also answer any questions you may have about starting a personal injury claim.
They can also assess whether you’re able to claim and, if you are, how much your whiplash injuries or other serious injuries could be worth. Furthermorhey are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can advise whether you may be eligible for compensation.
Contact our advisors today by:
- Calling on 0161 696 9685
- Using our live chat to talk to an advisor.
- Or you can contact us online.
Find Out More About Claims For A Car Crash On The Motorway
For more articles about road traffic accident claims:
- Road traffic accident calculator – how to make a claim.
- I was hit from behind in a car accident – can I claim for whiplash?
- How to make a fatal road accident compensation claim.
Or, if you are looking for further information:
- NHS – First Aid
- Department for Transport – Reported road collisions, vehicles and casualties tables for Great Britain.
- Think! – Road safety laws.
Contact our advisors today if you’ve been involved in a car crash on the motorway to see whether you could make a claim.
Written by MR
Edited by FS