If you were involved in a Kansas City, Missouri car accident today due to someone else’s negligence, do you know what benefits YOUR OWN auto insurance provides? What if the negligent driver only has $25,000 in coverage and your bills alone are $50,000? Will your insurance company pay the difference? You might need a Kansas City car accident attorney . See: http://www.castlelaw-kc.com In Missouri, you can purchase optional coverage known as underinsured motorist coverage (also known as UIM) and insurance agents do not always go out of their way to tell you about this coverage because it typically costs very little for that extra protection.

What is UIM coverage?
UIM coverage protects you in the event that a negligent driver is underinsured, meaning your injuries and damages exceed that driver’s policy limits. The state of Missouri only requires that drivers carry minimum policy limits of $25,000. That may be fine in your average fender bender but $25,000 is typically not enough if you are seriously injured. Following a four day hospitalization as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash, you could incur upwards of $50,000 or more in initial medical expenses, not including the ongoing treatment you will likely need such as physical therapy and/or surgery.
How much UIM coverage do you need?

In order for UIM coverage to apply, you have to have more coverage than the other driver. If you only have $25,000 policy limits, the minimum required insurance, UIM coverage will not provide any additional coverage or benefit to you because UIM pays the difference and if both parties have the same amount of coverage, there is no difference to pay. In other words, if the other driver has $25,000 in coverage, and you have $100,000 in underinsured motorist coverage, your insurance will pay up to $75,000 for a total of $100,000. So you need to purchase at least $50,000 policy limits with the same amount for underinsured motorist coverage. We typically recommend that you purchase $100,000 in policy limits with uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, though. The additional cost of that extra security is minimal, especially when compared to the cost of a devastating car accident with significant bills and not enough money to pay the providers who will go after you for payment, not the negligent driver.

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West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio scored five or lower on a set of 10 key indicators of steps states can take to prevent injuries, according to new report examining injury deaths in the United States.

The report released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines what states do in terms of injury prevention. This includes policies on seatbelt use, bike helmets and drunk driving.

At Recht Law Offices, our personal injury attorneys Pennsylvania closely follow injury trends to assist in representing clients. The accident lawyers Ohio aggressively represent people injured due to negligence. We have seen first hand the devastating impact of serious injuries and deaths as a result of the reckless actions of individuals and businesses. Accidental injury is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the new injury report, West Virginia and Pennsylvania received a 5 out of 10 score on a list of injury prevention policies. Ohio ranked last in the nation with a score of two out of 10.

Researchers found that Ohio has an annual accidental injury-death rate of 55.9 per 100,000 people; West Virginia’s rate is 88.2; Pennsylvania’s rate is 59.4. The national average is 57.9 deaths due to injury per 100,000 people.

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Massachusetts has the third lowest rate of injury death in the country, according to a new study. A new report titled “The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report” examines key indicators of steps states can take to prevent injuries. See Boston MA Personal Injury Lawyers Injuries may be linked to Massachusetts car accidents or motorcycle crashes in Massachusetts.

The report, released by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), concludes that millions of injuries could be prevented each year if more states took action such as adopting additional research-based injury prevention policies. The report also recommends fully implementing and enforcing programs.

While the average score for states is 5 out of 10, Massachusetts received a 7 out of 10 score (with zero being the lowest and 10 being the highest possible score). Only New York and New Jersey have lower injury death rates in the nation.

Injury prevention strategies include requiring bicycle helmets for all children and helmets for all bicycle riders. Some states require mandatory ignition interlocks for convicted drunk drivers. Seat belt laws also are recommended for injury prevention.

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Seat belts save lives. It’s not just an empty slogan. The Missouri Department of Transportation has startling facts about the link between fatalities and the failure to wear seat belts: Seven out of 10 Missourians killed in traffic crashes in 2011 were unbuckled, and three out of four teens killed in 2011 traffic crashes were not wearing a seat belt. Only 67 percent of Missouri teens (13-19) wear seat belts.

As Missourians killed in traffic crashes in 2011 , we have seen the devastating effects caused by not wearing a seat belt. The proper use of seat belts reduces the risk of serious injuries and even death. In Missouri, 79 percent of the citizens wear seat belts, but the state’s seat belt usage rage is well below the national average of 85 percent.

The Missouri Highway Patrol, Department of Transportation and local law enforcement are cracking down on wearing seatbelts from May 21 – June 3 with their “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

While it’s frustrating to be handed a fine for not being buckled up, the risks of not wearing a seat belt are just too great to ignore the law. In 2011, 784 Missourians were killed in traffic crashes. If everyone were buckled up, the number of deaths likely would be lower.

As of May 6, 2012, there were 255 traffic fatalities in Missouri, an increase of 22 percent when compared to roughly the same time period in 2011 (208 fatalities).

The good news is that Missouri car accident deaths have dropped 37.6 percent since 2005. But Missouri traffic fatality statistics reveal much work is needed to drive the numbers down even further.

In Missouri, 30 percent of traffic deaths involve an impaired driver. The leading causes of car accidents include speeding, driving under the influence and inattention.

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