Tupelo Car Accidents

If you have sustained injuries in a Mississippi car accident, contact the Tupelo car accident lawyers at Mama Justice to explore your legal options and right to compensation.

Dealing with physical injuries after a car accident can be extremely challenging. In addition to these painful injuries, most victims are forced to navigate serious financial difficulties too. Hospital bills, physical therapy, and car repair costs, combined with the economic setback of not being able to work leave victims feeling like they may never get their life back on track.

Anyone who has been injured in a car accident knows all too well the financial, mental, and physical strains that come with being the victim of someone else’s negligence. Many accident victims need help but are unsure of where to turn.

The Tupelo car accident attorneys at Mama Justice know first-hand what car accident victims go through. Our firm has been providing outstanding personal injury legal representation to the residents of Tupelo and surrounding areas for decades.

Our lawyers will conduct a thorough investigation into your case to ensure that you are fully and fairly compensated for your damages. We pride ourselves on offering compassionate and reliable assistance to injured victims and their families as they try to get through one of the most difficult times of their lives.

Our experienced Tupelo car accident attorneys treat every client the way they would want to be treated. We have a well-established track record that speaks for itself and has ensured our reputation as a renowned and respected law firm in the personal injury field.

Written by the Mama Justice legal team.
Legally reviewed by Missy Wigginton, Founding Attorney (“Mama Justice”).
Last reviewed: September 11, 2026.

Factors that Lead to Car Accidents

If you were injured in a car accident in Tupelo, Mississippi, you generally have three years from the date of the crash to file a claim (Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-49). A Tupelo car accident lawyer at Mama Justice can investigate the crash, handle the insurance company, and pursue money for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain. Call 24/7 for a free consultation.

How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Tupelo, MS?

In Mississippi, you generally have three years from the date of the crash to file a car accident lawsuit (Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-49). That may sound like plenty of time, but it goes fast, and waiting makes a case harder to prove. Evidence disappears, cameras record over footage, and witnesses forget what they saw.

Some deadlines are much shorter. If a city, county, or state vehicle was involved, you may have only a matter of months to give proper notice. Deadlines also vary by claim type, so the safest step is to confirm yours with a Tupelo car accident attorney as soon as you can. If you lost a loved one in a crash, a Mississippi wrongful death claim generally follows a similar timeline, but you should confirm it for your situation.

Even though every car accident is different, several elements are very common among them, including:

Studies have shown that as much as 34% of all fatal car accidents in Mississippi involve alcohol. State law says that alcohol cannot be sold to anyone already under the influence, so if a drunk driver caused your car accident, you might have a claim against a restaurant, bar, or other business if the impaired driver was sold alcohol. If a drunk driver caused your crash, you may have a stronger claim, and a Tupelo drunk driving accident lawyer can help.

What Are the Most Common Causes of Car Accidents in Tupelo?

Negligence

Almost all car accidents are the result of another driver’s negligence. This means that the driver acted carelessly or failed to exercise the care and caution that a reasonable driver would have.

Distracted drivers are an example of someone negligent behind the wheel. If you think a negligent driver was at fault for your accident, reach out to a Tupelo car crash lawyer as soon as possible.

What is Negligence?

Negligence occurs when a driver behaves recklessly or carelessly. There are two types of negligence. The first is when a driver performs an unsafe action, placing others in danger.
The second is when a driver fails to take action, putting others in danger. If a driver is acting dangerously or failing to do something to ensure safety, and someone is injured as a result, they can be found negligent and held liable for any resulting damages.

Examples of Driver Negligence

Many actions could be considered driver negligence. Some of the most common kinds of negligence include:

If you were injured in a Tupelo car accident due to someone else’s negligence, you might have an uphill battle in front of you. From medical bills and lost income to insurance adjusters trying to devalue your claim, you need a strong advocate on your side.

The simplest way to get your life back after a Mississippi car accident is to speak with a personal injury attorney in Tupelo. Your attorney will handle the details of your case and ensure you understand your rights while you focus on your recovery.

Distracted Driving

Distracted driving has become an epidemic not only in Mississippi but throughout the United States. Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has shown that distracted driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Despite the statistics that clearly show the dangers of driving while distracted, people still continue to text and drive.

Texting isn’t the only form of distraction drivers are engaging in either. Numerous actions could be viewed as distracting when performed by someone behind the wheel.

Many different actions can be considered distracted driving, but all of them fall into one or more of three categories.

• Manual Distractions: Manual distractions happen when you need to take your hands off the steering wheel to do something unrelated to the task of driving. This includes eating, changing the radio station, and adjusting your seat. Both hands need to be on the wheel to drive safely.
• Visual Distractions: Visual distractions take place when you look at something other than the road or your mirrors. It is important to keep your eyes on the road. It only takes a fraction of a second for another driver to swerve into your lane or for a child to wander into the street. Accidents involving visual distractions can also cause drivers to drift across a centerline or median, causing head-on crashes and fatal pedestrian accidents.
• Cognitive Distractions: Cognitive distractions involve anything that takes your mind off of driving. You shouldn’t be thinking about an incident that happened at work or daydreaming. You should be focused on the road in front of you and your driving.

Many distracted driving behaviors come under two or three of these categories. For example, texting while driving is so dangerous because it is a cognitive, visual, and manual distraction.

Examples of Distracted Driving

While there is no comprehensive list for what counts as distracted driving, some of the more common examples include:

Aggressive Driving

Aggressive drivers don’t make the news as often as drunk or distracted drivers, even though they are just as dangerous. Aggressive drivers endanger everyone on the roadway. If you or a family member was injured due to an aggressive driver, you should speak with a car accident lawyer in Tupelo as soon as possible.

What Is Aggressive Driving?

Many different behaviors could be labeled as aggressive driving. Almost any kind of driving that is done deliberately that puts others in danger is considered aggressive. Tailgating and speeding are two of the most common examples of aggressive driving. Both of these actions are deliberate on the part of the driver and present a danger to anyone on the road, including the offending driver.

Different Types of Aggressive Driving

There are many forms of aggressive driving. The most common types of aggressive driving are as follows:

Car Accidents Caused by Manufacturing Defects

Over the years, we have all seen manufacturer defects ranging from faulty brakes and defective ignition switches to fatal airbag deployment. In addition to these manufacturing defects injuring and killing innocent victims all across the country, the manufacturers themselves did not immediately recall these faulty products when they learned about the risks they posed, leaving consumers in dangerous and potentially fatal situations.

In almost every car accident case, fault can be attributed to at least one person. Aggressive and distracted driving are two examples of easily attributable fault but what happens when neither driver seems to have been negligent? What if only one car was involved, and the driver was acting appropriately and safely? Sometimes accidents like these can be attributed to defective auto parts.

Defective Auto Parts

Defective auto parts can cause catastrophic and fatal car accidents. When these parts fail, especially those designed to keep vehicle occupants safe, drivers have a much greater risk of having a serious car accident.

There have been defective ignition switches that cause vehicles traveling at high speeds to lose power, disabling their steering and brakes. There have also been child car seats where the latches won’t open, trapping babies and small children in their seats during an emergency.

Different Kinds of Manufacturing Defects

Any car part has the potential to be defective, causing it to be dangerous. Some defective auto parts include:

Hurt in a car accident in Tupelo, MS? Don’t go it alone. Call (833) 626-2587 to speak with our Tupelo auto accident attorney.

Protecting Tupelo Consumers

Vehicle manufacturers and vehicle part manufacturers owe their customers a duty of care. Your vehicle should meet all safety standards and should not put you in jeopardy due to some kind of fault or defect.

If you think your accident was caused by a faulty part, you need to talk to a knowledgeable Tupelo car accident lawyer right away. These cases can be time-consuming and time-sensitive, and they often require extensive investigation. The sooner a Mississippi personal injury attorney reviews your case, the higher your chances for a successful outcome will be.

What Are the Common Types of Car Accidents?

Car accidents can happen on any type of roadway, at any time of day, and the outcome is always unpredictable. People have walked away from major multi-vehicle accidents without a scratch while others suffer debilitating injuries in a fender-bender. Any car accident has the potential to cause serious injuries and fatalities but the most common injury-causing accidents include:

Chain Reaction Accidents

A chain reaction accident involves multiple vehicles. They usually occur when a distracted driver fails to slow down for stopped or slowed traffic. The distracted driver rear-ends the car in front of it, which rear-ends the next one, which rear-ends another. Not every driver involved in a chain reaction crash shares liability. Even if you drive safely and defensively, you can still be the victim of a chain reaction accident. Crashes with large trucks are different and often more serious; consult a Tupelo truck accident lawyer if a commercial vehicle was involved.

Interstate Accidents

Interstate accidents happen at dangerous and potentially lethal speeds. A serious accident can be caused by a driver going as slow as 20 miles per hour, far slower than the 70 miles per hour allowed on Mississippi highways. When you take into account speeding drivers, it’s no wonder that these kinds of accidents have one of the highest rates of injuries and deaths.

The two leading causes of highway accidents are distracted driving and drunk driving. In addition to this, aggressive driving behaviors like tailgating and speeding also contribute to interstate accidents. Due to the excessive speeds typically involved in these crashes, crash scene reconstructionists and law enforcement investigators generally take longer to determine the exact cause of an accident.

Head-On Collisions

Head-on car accidents are one of the most dangerous kinds of collisions for both passengers and drivers. Many different factors can result in a head-on accident but the one thing they all have in common is the severity of the injuries they cause. Vehicle occupants often sustain fatal or life-threatening injuries and cars are almost always totaled. For those who survive, this kind of collision will have a catastrophic and lasting impact on their lives.

Any time a vehicle is driving the wrong way down a street or swerves into oncoming traffic, a head-on crash is likely. Distracted drivers are especially prone to head-on collisions because their focus is not on the roadway. Anytime one of these scenarios occurs, lives are in danger. Senior citizens and drunk drivers are also at an increased risk of causing a head-on accident.

Rollover Accidents

Numerous factors can lead to a rollover accident. The most common cause is overcorrection. Overcorrection normally occurs when a vehicle drifts off the roadway and the driver jerks the steering wheel in an attempt to get back into their lane. This sudden response can lead to a serious or fatal vehicle rollover.

These accidents can also occur when drivers suddenly swerve to avoid hitting something in the roadway. Alcohol is a common element in single-vehicle rollovers. A few of the other common causes of rollover accidents include:

Side-Impact Collisions

Side-impact collisions can leave victims hospitalized, unable to work, and with a growing pile of medical bills. These debilitating accidents are sometimes referred to as being T-boned or broadsided.

Depending on the speed of the other vehicle, and which side of your car was impacted, the injuries produced in these kinds of collisions can range from moderate to critical and even fatal. Sadly, it is also common for victims to suffer multiple bone breaks and fractures, spinal cord injuries, and various types of soft-tissue damage associated with side-impact collisions.

Some common causes of side-impact crashes include:

If you or a family member has been injured in a side-impact accident, reach out to a Tupelo personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

What Are the Most Common Car Accident Injuries?

Car accident victims can sustain any number of different injuries and multiple factors can contribute to the type and degree of injury or injuries they suffer.

Some of the most frequently occurring car accident injuries in Mississippi include:

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Car accidents are one of the main sources of traumatic brain injuries. Even a seemingly insignificant fender-bender can shake someone hard enough to damage their brain. A brain injury can change your life, and these claims need special care; contact a Tupelo brain injury lawyer for assistance. It is necessary to see a physician after you have been in a car accident, even if you think you weren’t hurt.

It is also important to keep an eye out for abnormal behavior in children after a car accident. Brain injuries are very difficult to detect in children. Symptoms are often incorrectly attributed to temper tantrums or other behavior.

Neck Injuries

Whiplash is a very common car accident-related injury. It occurs when the neck is violently thrust back and forth. This injury is often seen in victims of rear-end accidents. Neck injuries ranging from stiffness and soreness to fractures and breaks are not uncommon after a car accident. Any neck injury requires immediate medical attention.

Back and Spinal Cord Injuries

Along with neck injuries, spinal cord and other back injuries are also common among crash victims.

Back and spinal cord injuries include:

While some soreness, stiffness, and pain are normal after a car accident, you should always seek medical attention as soon as possible. Pain is how your body tells you that you are injured. If you’re experiencing back pain after a car accident, you may have a serious injury.

Facial Injuries

Most car accidents involve deployed airbags, broken glass, or shattered dashboards. This means victims are at risk of severe facial injuries. Windshields can shatter and side windows can break. It doesn’t take a lot of force to cut sensitive facial tissues. This kind of injury involves a very lengthy recovery for many reasons. You could also be left with scarring, disfigurement, and pain. Depending upon the seriousness, you may also sustain fractures and injuries to your jaw that make basic, daily tasks such as talking, eating, and drinking painful and difficult.

Broken Bones

Broken bones are another common injury suffered by car crash victims. Fractures of varying degrees can happen to every bone in your body. Whether you have a broken leg, two broken arms, or a broken hip, you are going to be hospitalized, out of work, and in pain. If you experienced a fractured or broken bone in a car accident, you need to speak with a Tupelo personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

Internal Injuries

Internal injuries are a very dangerous class of injury that can happen to car accident victims. The impact can be so powerful that it causes injuries to your:

These injuries are life-threatening and demand prompt medical attention.

Emotional Injuries

Some injuries are not talked about as much as others. For example, post-traumatic stress disorder frequently accompanies the physical injuries that follow a car accident. If you are suffering from PTSD, another anxiety disorder, or other psychological trauma after a car accident, it is important that you tell someone. Although mental anguish is not talked about as often as it should be, it is a common side-effect of being injured in a car accident and deserves the same medical attention as any other trauma.

What Should You Do After a Car Accident in Tupelo?

What you do in the first hours after a crash can protect both your health and your claim. Here are the steps we tell every Tupelo client to take when they are able.

1. Call 911. Get police and medical help to the scene, whether the crash was on US-45, I-22, or a side street.
2. See a doctor, even if you feel okay. Some injuries, like a concussion, are easy to miss at first, which is why the CDC urges anyone in a crash to watch for delayed symptoms. North Mississippi Medical Center and local urgent care clinics can check you out and create a record.
3. Take photos. Get the vehicles, the damage, the road, traffic signs, and your visible injuries.
4. Get information. Exchange names, insurance, and contact details, and write down any witnesses.
5. Do not admit fault. Be polite, but let the investigation sort out who was responsible.
6. Call Mama Justice before you talk to the other insurance company. We can handle the calls so you do not say something that gets used against you.

How Is Fault Decided in a Mississippi Car Accident?

Mississippi uses a rule called pure comparative fault. That means more than one driver can share the blame, and you can still recover money even if part of the crash was your fault. Your recovery is simply reduced by your share. For example, if you are found 20 percent at fault, you can still collect 80 percent of your damages.

This matters because insurance companies love to pin as much blame on you as they can, since every percentage point lowers what they pay. We push back with evidence, like the crash report, photos, and witness accounts, to keep your share of fault as low as the facts allow. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, and every case depends on its own facts.