But in today’s society everybody has to take responsibility for their actions. The man who drives dangerously fast through busy city streets has to understand that he risks not only his own life, but also the lives of passers-by. If, because of his driving habits, another motorist is left with a serious personal injury, then he, and he alone, can be held accountable for that.

In the same way, a boss who removes safety guards on her factory machinery in order to enable her employees to work quicker would be liable if any of them then became trapped in the working parts.

In both of these situations those responsible for the accidents could easily be subjected to personal injury compensation claims from the injured parties – and rightly so.

The past decade has seen an enormous rise in the number of compensation claims that have been made by those who have received personal injuries through no fault of their own, giving people throughout the country the means to get their lives back on track and be compensated for any unnecessary pain and trauma that they have experienced.

Some feel that the UK is in the midst of a ‘compensation culture’ and that people nowadays are waiting for accidents to happen so that they can find someone to blame and make some money from the incident.

This, however, could not be further from the truth.

Many people find that, following an injury, they need to take time off work to recover. However, the strain of financial difficulties can means that they return to work to early, thus worsening the injury.

Making a personal injury claim can ensure that you have the time you need to fully recover, without having to worry about your finances.

Making a claim can also be a step towards preventing the injury happening to anybody else. For example, a claim made following car accident on a dangerous blind corner may result in the highways agency erecting mirrors to make the corner safer for other drivers, thus reducing the chance of the accident happening in the future.

In fact, many people who make a personal injury claim do so for this reason alone, regardless of the amount of compensation they may receive.