Highway 126 through Ventura County is a well-known trouble spot for local motorists. Residents know to keep a sharp eye out for reckless drivers, potholes, construction traffic, and other hazards. The busy route is the scene of too many serious accidents each year. Victims can end up with life-threatening injuries and stacks of medical bills due to someone else’s mistake.
Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC, fights for the rights of injured car accident victims across Ventura County. Our car accident lawyers offer a free case consultation to all victims. It’s an easy way to find out what their injuries are worth before insurance companies try to convince them their cases are worth nothing at all. Contact our office to schedule a confidential case review as soon as possible. There’s absolutely no obligation for this meeting.
Highway 126 Dangers in Ventura County
Highway 126 is known by many names along its east/west path from I-5 till it merges into Highway 101 in Ventura. It’s known as the Santa Paula Freeway between Santa Paula and Ventura. And it’s Telegraph Road through Buckhorn and Piru.
According to reporting from Bakersfield.com, it’s a stretch also known as “blood alley” to some locals. The nickname gained attention in an article about a Bakersfield man tragically killed along Highway 126 near Santa Paula in December of 2023. The victim struck a car that had pulled out of a driveway onto the highway in front of him.
The accident figures certainly support the grim nickname. From 2019 to 2022, the highway has averaged around 115 accidents involving serious injury a year. That’s according to California’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS). The data shows that the biggest concentration of collisions occurs around Fillmore and on the stretch linking Santa Paula and Ventura.
The numbers have fallen since 2019 but there are still way too many dangerous collisions on this road. Drivers must contend with many large trucks veering across white and yellow lines. They must deal with speeders. They must dodge motorists who are looking at their cell phones instead of the road.
If you or a family member at seriously hurt in an accident along Highway 126, you may need strong evidence to force an at-fault driver’s insurer to award compensation. Insurance adjusters will try to pin the blame on you and question what your hospital bills have cost.
Your Quirk Law representative fully investigates your case and backs it with strong evidence so that these weak arguments don’t hold water. Your Ventura County car accident lawyer makes sure you and your family get the maximum in compensation available.
What Should I Do After a Car Accident on Highway 126?
After your accident, a California Highway Patrol Officer will likely respond to the scene. The officer will be creating an accident report, partly based on your detailed account of what happened. But insurance companies can contest this report and try to shift the full blame to you.
To fight back you’ll need to back your injury claim with the best evidence available. The moments after a Highway 126 accident will be a great time to collect evidence that proves who caused it. However, only take action if your injuries allow it.
After the scene is secure, collect these details, or ask someone with you to collect this evidence for you:
- Call 911. Get checked out by paramedics and go to the hospital if necessary.
- Take pictures of everything at the scene. Show the damage to cars, street signs, and lane markings. Show any visible injuries you have.
- Get witness contact information so your Car Accident Lawyer can contact them for testimony.
- Get information from the other driver unless the investigating officer provides it to you.
- Scan the area for the presence of any security cameras on businesses or nearby homes.
- Alert your car insurance provider about your accident.
- Schedule an appointment with your own doctor. Get any new pain that arises the next day checked out. Follow your doctor’s orders.
What Kind of Things Can I Earn Car Accident Compensation For?
After a crash, your car accident attorney will be filing a claim on your behalf. In that claim should be a full list of the damages you and your family have endured since the collision.
Everything included in the claim is eligible to earn compensation. But anything left off could end up as a bill your family would have to cover.
Your lawyer will be listing every hardship you’ve suffered and backing up every claim with receipts, invoices, and evidence. These and other factors will determine the size of your car accident settlement check:
- Support for current medical bills and future healthcare costs
- Lifetime support for any permanent disability
- Support for the pain victims endure in crashes and through recovery
- Support for the emotional trauma caused by a major accident
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium (loss of intimacy with a partner)
- Reimbursement for lost paychecks and benefits at work
Contact a Ventura County Car Accident Lawyer
Schedule a free case review with our Ventura County Car Accident Lawyers here at Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC. We can talk about what happened, how it happened, and how it has changed your life. After that, we will go over all of the legal options available to you and your family.
There’s no obligation and if you do hire us to represent your injury claim, you won’t need to worry about how you’ll pay us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you and then our fee comes out of the settlement you receive from the auto insurance company.