Portland SUV Rollover Accident Attorneys

At Shulman DuBois, our Portland SUV rollover accident attorneys know that after a rollover accident you don’t have any time to waste. We make it a priority to preserve evidence from the scene of a rollover crash to make sure that you don’t lose any leverage in your case. Then, we can help you deal with insurance companies, keep track of medical bills, establish costs for other damages like pain and suffering, and help make sure that your personal injury claim is successful.

Whether your rollover accident was caused by a poor vehicle design, defective air bags, drunk driving, or a dangerous roadway, our Portland personal injury lawyers can help. To find out more about how our Portland SUV rollover accident attorneys can help you obtain compensation from those who caused your accident and injuries, call 503-222-4411 for a free consultation. Although SUVs are more likely to rollover, we can also help with other rollover cases.

Oregon is a beautiful state to drive in. We are lucky in that sense. However, as more and more families choose to drive sport utility vehicles (SUVs), consumers should know these vehicles are more likely to rollover than other types of vehicles. SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans are tall and narrow. Their design creates a high center of gravity, increasing the chance that the vehicles will rollover.

SUV rollover accidents in Oregon are violent. People inside of an SUV that rolls over can be tossed around and even ejected from the vehicle. While it is true that Oregon SUV accidents are often caused by environmental factors, distracted driving, and road conditions, these serious accidents are also caused by poor vehicle design.

The risk of SUV rollover is known to manufacturers of these types of vehicles. To provide people inside of an SUV with more protection, car manufacturers have added side-impact head air bags, or “curtains”. Unfortunately, people can still suffer serious injury or be ejected from the SUV in a rollover accident. Ejection causes the most injuries and fatalities in rollover collisions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides various resources about rollover safety. As a part of its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), the NHTSA has an updated rollover ratings system. Electronic Stability Control shows potential as a new technology that should help drivers of SUVs stay on the road in emergency situations. An SUV is less likely to roll over if it remains on the road, rather than being driven off-road. Considering that over 10,000 people a year are killed in rollover accidents, enhancements to SUV safety are very important.

Even though you are 75% less likely to be killed in a rollover crash if you are wearing a seat belt, rollovers have higher fatality rates than other kinds of accidents, accounting for 33 percent of all passenger vehicle fatalities.

Fatal rollover accidents are speed-related more often than fatal non-rollover accidents, with an average of about 40 percent of fatal rollover accidents involving excessive speeding. And if these statistics aren’t frightening enough, almost half of all fatal rollover accidents involve alcohol – and our Portland SUV rollover accident attorneys can also help with Dram Shop notices if needed.

Oregon is full of rural roads, which are often undivided and missing barriers. With nearly 75% of fatal rollover accidents happening in rural areas, drivers of SUVs in Oregon have to be extra careful. On the other hand, the NHTSA reports that more than 90 percent of vehicles in fatal, single-vehicle rollover accidents were carrying out routine driving maneuvers, such as going straight or going around a curve, at the time of the accident.

Driver behavior plays a major role in rollover accidents. Almost 85 percent of all rollover fatalities involve a single-vehicle crash. There are two major types of rollover accidents: tripped and un-tripped. A tripped SUV rollover occurs when a vehicle leaves the road and slides sideways. The high tripping force applied to the tires as they dig into soft soil or strike an object like the curb or guardrail can cause the SUV to roll over. Un-tripped rollovers do not happen as frequently as tripped rollovers. Top-heavy vehicles are usually involved in un-tripped rollovers, which happen during high-speed collision avoidance maneuvers.