Insurance companies are increasingly arguing that the risk of personal injury is related to a vehicle’s external structural damage and its costs of repair. They have taken this position in many cases as a matter of policy and in an effort to deny compensation to injured victims, argues Liam Moloney, principal solicitor of Moloney Solicitors.

Moloney states that linking external vehicle damage in a crash to the risk of injury for occupants has little scientific basis. In low speed rear-collisions, the bumper of a striking vehicle typically hits the rear bumper of a stationary vehicle, which frequently is stopped at traffic lights or a stop sign. The striking vehicle’s kinetic energy is then transferred into the target vehicle, resulting in acceleration to the target vehicle itself.

In these low-speed impacts, there is often negligible damage to the vehicle. However, if the striking vehicle’s bumper is higher or if the car is braking (with the nose of the vehicle diving downward), the car frame and seats of the struck car would be accelerated rapidly forward and downward. This can cause significant physical injury to the occupants of the target vehicle.

You can read Liam Moloney’s full article, including the other varied factors that impact on injuries in low-speed accidents, in the April 2016 issue of the Gazette.