5 Things You Should Know About TBIs from Car Accidents

Maybe you know the abbreviation “TBI” if you work in the medical field. Some people who don’t work in that niche know about it, though. TBI means traumatic brain injury. It’s a serious condition that impacts many individuals every year. 

2020 saw more than 64,000 deaths from TBIs after car accidents. You can sustain one in other ways as well, but if you think about it, you’ll likely see why car wrecks cause so many of them. In a serious car wreck, your body and head might bounce back and forth. You might strike your head on the dashboard, the vehicle’s window, or somewhere else.

Let’s discuss a few things the average driver should know about TBIs that car accidents cause.

Certain Car Wrecks Cause More TBIs Than Others

First, you should know that some kinds of car accidents cause more TBIs than others. If you cause a fender bender, you might tap another driver’s bumper if you’re not paying attention. Their head and neck might jolt back and forth, causing whiplash. It’s not likely they’ll sustain a TBI, though, unless you hit them while driving very fast. 

Sideswipe collisions also rarely cause TBIs. They might damage your car, and the vehicle you hit, but they rarely cause anything beyond bumps and bruises.

A T-bone collision will much more likely cause a TBI. In a T-bone collision, a car hits another vehicle broadside, making the capital letter T. 

If you’re driving a car that another vehicle hits from the side going at a decent rate of speed, then your head can bounce off the window next to you. That can very easily cause a TBI.

A head-to-head collision will likely cause a TBI as well. If a car hits your vehicle head-on, that impact can cause your body and head to jolt forward. You may strike your head on the steering wheel or dashboard.

A rollover collision can also easily cause a TBI. In a rollover collision, you body may go airborne slightly, even with your seatbelt holding you in place. You have no way of knowing how you’ll land. With that much of a violent accident, your head hitting something hard inside your car can easily happen. 

In Accidents with a Higher Rate of Speed, TBIs Become More Likely

You should also understand that TBIs don’t often happen with car wrecks that involve vehicles moving slowly. They’re still possible, but a collision with a car going five-miles-per-hour probably won’t happen. If a car hits you going 50, by contrast, serious injuries become much more likely, including TBIs. 

That’s why you should always exercise caution while driving, but even more so when you’re on the highway. When you’re going at a high rate of speed, and you have other drivers around you doing the same thing, you’re upping the stakes concerning injuries, even if you may not often think about it. 

You Shouldn’t Use the Terms Concussion and TBI Interchangeably 

You may also know the term “concussion” as well as TBI. You likely know that they both mean head injuries. You may think they’re interchangeable, though.

If you hurt yourself in a car accident, then maybe you’re trying to describe your condition to a friend, coworker, or neighbor. When doing so, you should know that a concussion falls into the TBI category. A doctor considers a concussion a mild TBI.

If you say that you sustained a concussion, that means you suffered a head injury, but maybe it’s minor. If you say that you sustained a TBI, the medical community usually regards that more seriously.

The average concussion won’t threaten your life, unless you go through several of them throughout a period of years and develop CTE. You’ll probably recover after a single minor concussion, though. You may not after a single TBI, or at least not completely. That depends on the TBI’s severity.    

You May Not Realize You Sustained a TBI Immediately

You should know that if you injure yourself in a car accident, and it’s a head injury, you may not know its extent immediately. In other words, you might not know that you just sustained a TBI.

In a car accident, your adrenaline will probably spike. You might get out of the car and not know whether you suffered any damage. It might take several minutes or longer for you to realize you are not completely healthy.

Hopefully, you will get medical personnel to look you over at the scene. If an ambulance comes, mention whether you feel dizzy, you have a headache, or you have blurred vision. These could all indicate a TBI.

If you refuse treatment, though, and you start to feel any of these things later, don’t delay. Get to an emergency room immediately. If you don’t get medical attention after a TBI, you face serious consequences. 

You could even die if you have got internal bleeding inside your skull that’s causing cranial pressure. You will need to have a surgeon provide relief.  

You Have Different TBI Classifications 

You should know one final thing about TBIs you sustain in car accidents. Doctors give them different classifications.

Usually, doctors have three distinct classifications for TBIs. You have your mild, moderate, and severe ones.

If you lose consciousness briefly following an accident, like for a couple of minutes, a doctor will usually consider that a mild TBI. You may also have a headache and experience confusion.

If you lose consciousness for as little as 30 minutes or as long as several hours, a doctor might put that in the moderate TBI category. If you lose consciousness for 24 hours or more, that will definitely go in the severe TBI category. 

As you might expect, doctors look at severe TBIs as potentially life-threatening conditions. Even if you regain consciousness, the doctor will test you to see whether your brain suffered any damage. You might not be able to tell immediately. Only time will reveal the injury’s severity.