THATCHAM and neck injury prevention
The prevention of whiplash style neck injuries is something that road safety organisations such as THATCHAM have long considered to be neglected by the majority of major car manufacturers. This reality was acutely apparent in THATCHAM's whiplash testing for the 2005 model year of vehicles, with only 16% of cars receiving a "good" rating and an abysmal 36% receiving a "poor" score.
A simple overview of the statistics detailing this kind of neck injury reveals just how essential it is that manufacturers strive to prevent them. One in five of all people involved in rear-end collisions will develop whiplash symptoms. Overall, this type of hyperflexion injury affects around 200,000 people in the UK each year, with more than 2,000 of these eventually being classified as chronic or permanent (Source: Association of British Insurers).
The majority of these are "intangible", meaning that they take the form of "invisible" damage to nerves, joints, ligaments and bones. They are extremely costly to the UK economy as well. Nearly £2 billion of whiplash claims are compensated each year, accounting for around 80% of all personal injury compensation costs in Britain.
The latest THATCHAM scores
This is why the most recent available THATCHAM whiplash testing scores are so encouraging. With a marked improvement on previous years on the number of vehicles receiving a "good" or "acceptable" score, many believe that manufacturers are beginning to respond to the reality suffered by the hundreds of thousands who sustain this type of injury to the neck in Britain each year.
In fact, 80% of all new European cars received a "good" or "acceptable" score in 2007. Japanese manufacturer Honda made the most encouraging progress. This was best exemplified by the strides made by the Civic and CR-V models which both went from receiving "poor" ratings to "top of the class" with "good" ratings, all within the space of one model year. This puts these Honda models on a par with the two manufacturers who traditionally score at the top for this kind of test, Volvo and Saab.
Yet Honda were not the only manufacturer to make giant strides in 2007, Ford, Renault and Audi all demonstrated marked improvements in the tests. Overall, 30% of vehicles tested received a "good" score, with only 20% receiving a "poor" score, down 16% on 2005 results.
While these figures would seem to indicate that manufacturers are at last moving in the right direction, they also demonstrate that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Making a no win, no fee neck injury compensation claim
YouClaim have many years valuable experience helping people who have been injured in car accidents receive the compensation they deserve.
We have a team of no win, no fee solicitors on our panel who specialise in this type of litigation, ensuring you the best expertise available to help represent your interests.
No matter what the circumstances of your accident, if your injury is in some part attributable to the actions of another party, we should be able to help you claim compensation.
Our service policy means that, win or lose, you will never be charged a penny in legal costs or fees. In addition, our no-cut commitment delivers all our winning clients 100% of the compensation awarded them.
To find out more about how we might be able to help you receive neck injury compensation, simply fill out an online claim form, have an echat, request a callback or call us now on 0800 10 757 95.
