One thing that you’ll find after serious car accidents is that the individuals who were involved in them may not remember the crash itself. They may tell you that they don’t remember anything other than getting in the car and then waking up in the hospital.
This is often very surprising since the accident could be a life-changing event. It can also be problematic if a family member was injured and you’re trying to determine what happened during the accident, but they have no memory of that event itself. Below are two reasons that this can happen.
The brain stops making memories
In a traumatic situation, what sometimes happens is that your brain will focus on survival. It commits all of its energy to your fight-or-flight syndrome, and it tries to keep you from being injured. It has to stop doing other processes to do this, and making memories is one of the processes that sometimes ends. In other words, your brain actively pauses the creation of new memories because it is more concerned with helping you survive the incident.
You could have a brain injury
In some cases, those who were involved in an accident suffered from a traumatic brain injury. This can cause them to lose consciousness, and the part of the brain that creates memories could be affected. Every brain injury is different, of course, because it differs in location and severity. But it is certainly possible that a brain injury could mean you never remember what occurred.
If you have been involved in a serious accident that has major ramifications like this, be sure you are well aware of all of your legal options.