Workers' Compensation Benefits for On-the-Job Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries

Workers injured in motor vehicle accidents may be eligible for workers' compensation benefits to cover medical expenses and lost wages.

2012-11-08

November 08, 2012 (Press-News.org) Many jobs require employees to do some driving as part of their job responsibilities. From truck drivers, whose duties almost entirely consist of driving, to those who drive sporadically, such as businesses that occasionally deliver their products -- all of these employees are at risk of being involved in a motor vehicle accident while on the job. After such an accident, in addition to making a claim against the at-fault driver, the injured Nevada employee may also be eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits.

On-the-Job Motor Vehicle Accidents

Unfortunately, traffic accidents involving employees who are on the job are relatively common, and often result in serious injuries or fatalities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of worker deaths in the U.S. is motor vehicle accidents. Annually, around 1,600 employees die in motor vehicle crashes, both on and off the highway. In addition, almost 350 pedestrian employees are killed after being hit by a vehicle.

In total, motor vehicle accidents account for 35 percent of all on-the-job fatalities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Furthermore, motor vehicle collisions also result in a large number of workers sustaining personal injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") has reported that every 10 seconds in the United States, an individual is injured in a motor vehicle crash.

Due to the large number of serious motor vehicle crashes involving American workers each year, OSHA created "Guidelines for Employers to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes." These guidelines are meant to provide employers with some simple strategies to improve driver safety and reduce traffic incidents among members of their workforce.

These accidents can have huge economic costs for the injured worker -- as he or she often will have large, unexpected medical expenses, while also being unable to work. Consequently, it is important for workers in this difficult situation to be aware of their rights and the potential benefits available to them.

Workers' Compensation Benefits for Car Accident Injuries

When a worker is involved in a motor vehicle accident while on the job, he or she is eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits. These benefits can provide for a variety of unexpected costs, including loss of wages and medical expenses. In addition, if a worker is killed in a motor vehicle collision, his or her family is eligible to receive workers' compensation survivor benefits.

The worker will need to prove he or she was performing a work-related activity to be eligible for such benefits. In addition, the worker will typically have to show that the injury sustained was caused by the car accident. As with other workers' compensation claims, the worker will need to provide proof of the injuries, including medical documentation.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident while on the job, you may be eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits. In addition, there may be potential third party claims to be made against the other individuals responsible for the crash. In such situations, it is wise to consult with a skilled personal injury and workers' compensation attorney, who will be able to evaluate your case and ensure just compensation is obtained.

Article provided by Henness & Haight, Injury Attorneys
Visit us at www.hennessandhaight.com/

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Social Security Disability Program

2012-11-08

In times of political polarization and economic difficulty, government programs that benefit people who have endured hardships sometimes make easy targets for aspiring politicians. Nonetheless, a recent poll of likely American voters shows across-the-board support for continuation of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits at existing levels. In a recent survey of 1,000 American adults, the political research firm Lincoln Park Strategies found that 83 percent of those polled agreed that cuts to SSDI benefits would be unfair. Only eight percent of likely ...

Don't Wait to File Past-Due Federal Income Tax Returns

2012-11-08

As the end of the year approaches, it is time to start thinking about preparing your 2012 income tax return. But what if you are one of the thousands of people who have failed to file one or more previous years' returns? Will filing a tax return this year simply draw attention to your past omissions? Failing to pay individual income taxes or file a return is a serious violation of federal tax law, and continued failure to file will only make problems worse. With that said, it is important to talk with an experienced tax law attorney before filing tax returns or other ...

What paleotempestology tells scientists about today's tempests

2012-11-07

Boulder, CO, USA – Understanding Earth's paleo-hurricane record cannot be more timely and important in a light of Hurricane Sandy, which shocked the U.S. East Coast last week. Talks in this Wednesday afternoon session at the GSA Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, integrate field, lab, and model analysis of past hurricanes and future scenarios, covering a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Session co-organizer Daria Nikitina of West Chester University says that "gaining understanding of past events provides the context for future coastal vulnerability. ...

New insight into why haste makes waste

2012-11-07

Why do our brains make more mistakes when we act quickly? A new study demonstrates how the brain follows Ben Franklin's famous dictum, "Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste." The research – conducted by Research Assistant Professor Richard Heitz and Jeffrey Schall, Ingram Professor of Neuroscience, at Vanderbilt University – has found that the brain actually switches into a special mode when pushed to make rapid decisions. The study was published Nov. 7 in the journal Neuron. "This is a question that is very basic to our experience as human beings, ...

Teaching the blind to read and recognize objects with sounds

2012-11-07

VIDEO: This is an example of one image from each of the visual categories used in the structured SSD training (geometric shapes, Hebrew letters, textures, body postures, everyday objects, houses, and... Click here for more information. Areas of the brain in blind people can learn to process visual input through the use of sound, even after years or perhaps even lifelong blindness, according to new research reported in the November issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron. The findings ...

Looking for the anti-Alzheimer's molecule -- A new approach to treating a devastating disease

2012-11-07

Ottawa, Canada (November 7, 2012) – Researchers at Dalhousie University have discovered a new technique using "computer-aided" drug design that may lead to an entirely new approach in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). "Alzheimer's is a devastating disease for which no truly disease-modifying drugs are available. Our approach is completely novel. We explore how the human body attempts to protect itself from Alzheimer's, and then we exploit this to develop an entirely new approach to therapeutics," explained Dr. Weaver, a professor at Dalhousie University, ...

Geologist calls for advances in restoration sedimentology

2012-11-07

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Rapid advances in the new and developing field of restoration sedimentology will be needed to protect the world's river deltas from an array of threats, Indiana University Bloomington geologist Douglas A. Edmonds writes in the journal Nature Geoscience. The commentary, published this week in the November issue, addresses the fact that land is disappearing from river deltas at alarming rates. And deltas are extraordinarily important: They are ecologically rich and productive, and they are home to about 10 percent of the world's population. "There's ...

In the digital age, managers can't ignore #angrycustomers

2012-11-07

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (November 7, 2012) – In a digital age where dissatisfied consumers vent their concerns through biting viral videos, nasty blog posts or negative online comments, managers need to develop strategies to soothe angry customers in person as well as online, according to a new study in the latest edition of the Journal of Service Research. In a study that explores the changing ways in which customers express their emotions, the researchers found that anger can quickly fuel negative word-of-mouth commentary to fellow consumers, family and friends, as well as ...

Protein reveals diabetes risk many years in advance

2012-11-07

When a patient is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the disease has usually already progressed over several years and damage to areas such as blood vessels and eyes has already taken place. To find a test that indicates who is at risk at an early stage would be valuable, as it would enable preventive treatment to be put in place. Researchers at Lund University have now identified a promising candidate for a test of this kind. The findings have been published in the journal Cell Metabolism. "We have shown that individuals who have above-average levels of a protein called ...

Persistent sync for neurons

2012-11-07

A team of Brazilian physicists working with neuroscientists studying freely behaving rats have found that their neurons often act in precise coordination over time, in a study about to be published in EPJ B. These findings stem from the work of Bruno Silva, a researcher at Bahia Federal University in Salvador, and his colleagues from other universities in the Northeastern region of Brazil, and suggest that neuronal networks' memory could be explored in the future. Because neurons are connected with each other, acting as operational units in the brain, they can be considered ...