If you are a woman who walked away from a head-on or front-into-rear collision with a broken leg, a knee that will not bear weight, or chest pain, while the other driver went home with a sore neck, you are not imagining the difference. Front-end crash injuries fall harder on women, and the research explaining why has been public since 2021. It matters for your claim, because the adjuster reviewing your file will compare your injuries to the damage to the cars, and the cars can understate what happened to you.

What the IIHS research on front-end crash injuries found

In February 2021 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety published a study of police-reported, tow-away front and side crashes from 1998 through 2015. On a per-crash basis, after adjusting for speed and other factors, women were 20 to 28 percent more likely than men to be killed and 37 to 73 percent more likely to be seriously injured. In front crashes specifically, women were three times as likely to suffer a moderate injury such as a broken bone or concussion, and twice as likely to suffer a serious one such as a collapsed lung or traumatic brain injury.

The researchers then asked how much of that gap was physical. They limited the analysis to “compatible” front crashes, single-vehicle crashes and two-vehicle crashes between vehicles of similar size where the front airbag deployed, so that vehicle weight and crash type were not doing the work. Most of the gap closed. What did not close was the leg: women in compatible front crashes were still more than two and a half times as likely to suffer moderate leg injuries, and about 70 percent more likely to suffer serious ones, a figure the Institute noted was not statistically significant. Its vice president of vehicle research said the leg finding “will require more investigation.”

Why the difference exists

Two explanations carried most of the weight. The first is vehicle choice. About 70 percent of the women in the study crashed in cars, against about 60 percent of the men, while more than 20 percent of men crashed in pickups compared with fewer than 5 percent of women. Within each vehicle class, men also tended to be in heavier vehicles. In a front-to-front or front-to-rear collision, the lighter vehicle and its occupant absorb more of the force.

The second is who is doing the striking. Using federal fatality data, the researchers found that in two-vehicle front-to-rear and front-to-side crashes, men are more likely to be driving the striking vehicle. The occupant of the struck vehicle is at higher risk of injury than the occupant of the striking one. Put those two facts together on Highway 17 at rush hour and the pattern of who gets hurt is not surprising.

The study’s good news was that crashworthiness improvements have helped women and men about equally, and that vehicles with a good rating in the Institute’s moderate overlap front test lowered the odds of most injuries for women at least as much as for men. It did not change the leg finding.

What the research means for your South Carolina injury claim

The injury is measured on you, not on the car

Insurers use vehicle damage as a shorthand for injury severity. The IIHS data is the answer to that shorthand: the same front crash produces different injuries in different occupants, and a woman in a lighter car who was struck is on the wrong side of every variable the study identified. Your medical records, imaging and treating physician’s opinion describe your injury. The repair estimate describes the bumper.

South Carolina takes the plaintiff as she is found

The South Carolina Supreme Court put the rule in one sentence in Raino v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.: “The defendant takes the plaintiff as he is found and the plaintiff is entitled to recover damages resulting from the aggravation of a pre-existing condition.” The Court of Appeals applied it in Waring v. Johnson, where a rear-end collision aggravated a woman’s degenerative back condition and the jury awarded only her medical bills; the trial court’s additur for pain and suffering was upheld because, whatever portion of her pain came from the underlying condition, the crash had produced “pain where there previously had been none.” If you are more susceptible to a leg or spinal injury than the driver who hit you, that is not a defence.

Leg injuries carry costs the first offer will not include

Tibial plateau fractures, knee ligament tears, ankle fractures and foot injuries are the injuries the study singled out. They mean surgery, hardware, months of physical therapy, time away from work, and often a permanent change in what you can do. The categories of loss South Carolina recognizes, including future medical care, lost earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life, are set out in our post on what damages you can claim in a South Carolina personal injury case. An early offer is priced on the emergency room visit, not the second surgery.

Fault is still apportioned

None of this changes who caused the crash. South Carolina compares fault, and under Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co. an injured driver recovers as long as her negligence is not greater than the other driver’s, with the award reduced by her share. In a front-into-rear collision the striking driver usually carries the fault, and the evidence in our post on distracted driver negligence is where those cases are built.

What to do after a front-end collision

• —Get examined the same day, and tell the provider about every symptom, including leg, knee and foot pain that seems secondary to the more obvious injury.
• —Photograph both vehicles, the point of impact and the position of the seats and airbags before repairs.
• —Keep a short daily record of pain, mobility and the tasks you cannot do.
• —Do not give a recorded statement or sign a medical authorization for the other driver’s insurer before you understand your injuries.
• —Ask what the other driver’s insurer is offering in writing, and read our post on what happens after rejecting an insurance settlement before responding.

Our guide to the steps to take at an accident scene covers the first minutes, and why you need a lawyer after a car accident in South Carolina covers the first weeks.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use the IIHS study as evidence in my case?

Population research does not prove what happened to one person; your medical evidence does that. The study is useful in a different way: it explains to an adjuster, a mediator or a jury why a serious leg injury in a moderate-looking front crash is exactly what the data predicts rather than something to be suspicious of.

The adjuster says my injury is out of proportion to the crash. What do I do?

Get the treating physician’s opinion in writing on causation, and do not argue the point over the phone. Disproportion between vehicle damage and injury is the insurer’s standard argument, and it is answered with medicine, not with a debate about bumpers.

I had a bad knee before the crash. Does that reduce my claim?

You recover for the aggravation the crash caused. Be accurate about the prior condition in your records; an undisclosed history is the one thing that damages these claims.

How long do I have to file?

Three years for most personal injury claims under S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5), and shorter periods under the Tort Claims Act where a government vehicle is involved.

Talk to a South Carolina car accident attorney

A claim is worth what the injury costs, not what the car looks like. Klok Law Firm handles injury claims in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and across Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Call Klok Law at (843) 701-1695 to discuss your options, or visit our personal injury page.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, contact Klok Law at (843) 701-1695.