Belleville Car
Accident Lawyers
When a crash upends your health and your finances in seconds, you do not have to face the aftermath alone. We deal with the insurers and fight for the full compensation you are owed.
Driving in the Metro East comes with a basic trust that other drivers will follow the rules. When someone breaks that trust, the crash can upend your health, your finances, and your family in a matter of seconds.
A Belleville car accident lawyer can protect your rights, deal with the insurance companies, and fight for the full compensation you are owed. You do not have to do it alone.
The personal injury attorneys at Nelson & Nelson have spent more than 40 years representing injured people across Illinois and Missouri. We handle the investigation, the paperwork, and the negotiation so you can focus on getting better.
What to Do After a Car Crash
Your health and your passengers' health are the most important concern. A few simple steps now can protect both your recovery and your rights down the road. Focus on two things: your health, and securing basic information.
Check yourself and your passengers for injuries, then the other driver if you can do so safely. If anyone is hurt, call 911 immediately. Adrenaline masks pain that surfaces hours later — err on the side of getting help on the way. Be a human first.
If the crash is on a busy road, move vehicles out of traffic if you can. Turn on hazard lights, set out flares or cones, and be careful getting in and out of your vehicle with traffic moving around you.
Always get a police report, even for a minor crash — it creates an official record. Exchange insurance, names, and plate numbers, and get contact info from witnesses. Stay calm, do not admit fault, and do not give a recorded statement to any insurer before talking to an attorney. Take a lot of pictures: every vehicle from multiple angles, the scene, the road, signs, and your injuries. You cannot recreate the scene later.
If you are hurt — or think you might be — get treatment. Many crash injuries don't show symptoms right away; soft tissue injuries, disc herniations, and concussions can take days or weeks to present. If you wait, the insurer will argue you weren't really hurt. Go to the ER, urgent care, or your doctor, make sure everything is documented, and keep your appointments.
Do this before you talk to any insurer. A good attorney takes the investigation, the insurance calls, the paperwork, and the strategy off your plate so you can focus on getting better. Consultations are free and we work on contingency, so there is no fee unless we recover money for you. The deadline to file is the last day, not the day to start. Evidence disappears and witnesses forget. The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
Save everything: the police report number, medical bills, medication receipts, records of missed work, photos, repair estimates, and every letter or email from an insurer. Start a folder the first week and put everything in it. If you are unsure whether something matters, keep it. Your attorney will sort through it.
A police report is only a starting point. We file FOIA requests, pull the vehicles' data downloads, track down surveillance video from nearby businesses, and photograph the scene before conditions change. Evidence disappears fast.
There are typically three insurers in a crash case — your health insurance, the other driver's auto policy, and your own. We keep it organized, tell the adjusters to stop calling you directly, and work to reduce what gets paid back out of your recovery so more stays in your pocket.
How Our Attorneys Can Help
Insurance companies are not on your side. They are businesses that protect their bottom line, and they often shift blame, dispute your injuries, or push a fast, low settlement before the full picture of your recovery is clear.
Our car accident lawyers start by investigating the collision and locking down the evidence — pulling the "black box" data recorder, filing FOIA requests for the crash report, securing video before it is erased, and interviewing witnesses while memories are fresh. We then build the medical and financial side of your claim so your injuries and their long-term effects are properly documented.
When it is time to deal with the insurers, we handle the calls and demand the full value of your claim — not the number the adjuster wants you to accept. If they refuse to be fair, we are prepared to file suit and try your case. Nelson & Nelson attorneys have tried cases to verdict in Illinois and Missouri state and federal courts, and insurers know it.
Common Causes of Car Accidents
Nearly every crash traces back to a driver who failed to use reasonable care. Proving that failure — and connecting it to your injuries — is the heart of a personal injury claim.
Distracted Driving
Texting, scrolling, or adjusting the nav takes eyes off the road. At highway speed a few seconds covers a football field. Phone records often help prove it.
Speeding & Aggression
Speed shortens reaction time and lengthens stopping distance, and makes every crash more violent. Tailgating, weaving, and running lights fall in the same category.
Impaired Driving
Alcohol and drugs slow reaction time and impair judgment. When a drunk or drugged driver causes a crash, that conduct can support a claim for additional damages.
Failure to Yield
The most serious crashes often happen at intersections, when a driver turns across traffic or runs a stop sign or red light. The impact strikes the side, where there is less protection.
Fatigued Driving
Drowsy driving impairs a driver much like alcohol. Drivers coming off long shifts or long highway stretches can drift, react slowly, or fall asleep entirely.
Poor Conditions
Not every crash is purely a driver's fault. Bad roads, obscured signage, and defective parts can contribute — meaning a manufacturer or government body may share liability.
The Scale of Crashes in Illinois (2024)
2024 Illinois crash data
Rear-end collisions are the most common crash type in Illinois, accounting for 74,505 crashes. But fixed object crashes are the deadliest, with 291 fatalities.
2024 Illinois crash data
View the full 2024 Illinois Car Accident Statistics report →
Common Injuries in Car Accidents
Because some injuries take time to surface, early evaluation and consistent treatment matter for both your recovery and your claim.
Whiplash & Soft Tissue
Collision force stretches and tears neck and back muscles. It may not hurt until the next day and can linger for months — which is why documentation matters.
Back & Spinal
Herniated discs, nerve damage, and spinal cord injuries can cause chronic pain, limited mobility, and in severe cases paralysis — often requiring surgery.
Traumatic Brain
A concussion can follow even when the head strikes nothing. Headaches, memory problems, and mood changes can disrupt daily life and aren't obvious at first.
Broken Bones
Fractures of the arms, legs, ribs, hips, and pelvis are common in higher-speed and side-impact crashes, and some leave permanent limitations.
Internal Injuries
Crash force can injure organs or cause internal bleeding that isn't visible or immediately painful — and can be life-threatening. Get evaluated promptly.
Illinois Car Accident Law, in Plain English
A few legal rules shape almost every Illinois claim. This is general information, not legal advice — and deadlines can be shorter in certain cases, so confirm the details with an attorney early.
You Have a Deadline
In Illinois you generally have two years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. In Missouri it is generally five years. If a city, county, or other local government or one of its employees caused the crash (a municipal vehicle, a badly designed intersection, a construction zone), Illinois gives you one year, not two. Different rules apply to minors.
Those dates are the last day you can file. They are not the day to start. The earlier you call, the better job we can do: preserve the black-box data and video before it is overwritten, talk to witnesses while they still remember, find every party who shares responsibility, and get your claim in before other people draw down a limited policy. The longer a case sits, the more problems it picks up.
The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
Partly at Fault? Still Recover
Illinois follows modified comparative negligence. You can recover as long as you were not more than 50% at fault, with your award reduced by your share. Found 20% responsible? You recover 80%. Missouri uses pure comparative fault. Insurers try to pin extra blame on you precisely because it lowers what they owe.
Illinois Minimums Are Low
Illinois requires liability coverage of just $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $20,000 property damage, plus UM coverage of 25/50. Missouri minimums are 25/50/25. These are often far less than a serious injury costs — which is why your own uninsured and underinsured coverage can become the most important policy in the case.
Uninsured or Underinsured?
If the driver who hit you had no insurance, too little, or fled the scene, you are not necessarily out of options. Your own UM/UIM coverage may step in. We have recovered uninsured-motorist policy limits for clients in exactly these situations.
What Is My Case Worth?
Anyone who promises a specific number before reviewing your case is not being straight with you. Value depends on the severity and permanence of your injuries, your past and future medical care, lost income and earning ability, the strength of the liability evidence, and the available coverage.
Our Car Accident Case Results
Our own case results. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
View All ResultsCategories of Compensation
Car Accidents in the Metro East
Heavy commuter and commercial traffic on I-64, I-255, I-55/70, and the busy stretches of Route 15 and Route 159 keeps local roads congested — and congestion plus speed is a recipe for serious collisions. Because our firm is based in Belleville and our attorneys live and work in St. Clair County, we know these roads, the local courts, and the adjusters who handle Metro East claims.
Our Car Accident Results
Examples of results our attorneys have secured for car accident clients across the Metro East and beyond.
Dane Nelson recovered the full policy limit for an officer rear-ended at a construction site — after the insurer first offered under $5,000.
Reed Nelson held firm to the full policy after a driver ran a stop sign and struck a mother traveling with her young daughter.
Dane Nelson secured the policy limit for a client airlifted from the scene, then reduced the medical bills to a fraction of their size.
Reed Nelson recovered the uninsured-motorist policy limit after the at-fault driver fled the scene.
Reed Nelson secured a recovery after an intoxicated driver crossed the center line and caused a head-on collision.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
Why Choose Nelson & Nelson
The People in Your Corner
Reed C. Nelson
Managing PartnerReed limits his practice to representing seriously injured people and has recovered millions for clients in car, motorcycle, and trucking crashes. Licensed in Illinois and Missouri, he is known for moving fast to preserve evidence.
Dane C. Nelson
PartnerDane has secured a series of six-figure policy-limit recoveries in car crash cases, and routinely works to reduce clients' medical bills so more of the recovery stays in their pocket.
David C. Nelson
PartnerA trial lawyer licensed in Illinois and Missouri, David has tried crash and injury cases to verdict in state and federal court and pursues every available policy when one is not enough.
Nathan C. Lanter
PartnerAutomobile collisions are among Nathan's areas of emphasis; he has won jury trials and obtained multimillion-dollar recoveries for people seriously hurt on Illinois and Missouri roads.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a car accident claim in Illinois?
What if the crash was partly my fault?
The other driver had no insurance or not enough. Can I still recover?
How much does a car accident lawyer cost?
Should I give the other driver's insurance company a statement?
My injuries did not show up right away. Does that hurt my case?
Will my car accident case go to trial?
I was hurt in Illinois but live in Missouri, or the reverse. Can you help?
How long does a car accident case take?
What should I bring to a free consultation?
Focus on your health. We'll handle the rest.
Free consultation. No fee unless we recover money for you. Phones answered 24/7.