Posted on May 16, 2018 in Uncategorized

April 23 saw gridlock around Round Rock after a truck carrying a load of materials lost control and dumped its load on I-35, near the northbound Westinghouse Drive exit. While no one appears to have been hurt in this particular incident, carrier trucks and dump trucks of this type do feature often in fatal accidents, and many of them are caused by drivers losing control of their loads. It is important to be aware of the potential for this to happen when driving on Texas highways.

Statistics Are Vague

The term ‘dump truck’ is a vague one, and federal statistics do not track specific incidents involving this particular type of truck, though Texas statistics do track statistics involving load-hauling trucks and semis. Fatalities and injuries in these types of accidents number approximately 3,400 in 2016, the most recent available data, which is roughly the same as in previous years. Nonetheless, only passenger cars and pickup trucks have been responsible for more combined casualties on Texas roads in the past years.

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 Posted on May 14, 2018 in Uncategorized

Texas roads see quite a few big rigs at any given moment. While the majority of truckers know how to operate their vehicles safely and efficiently, a minority will sometimes cut corners in the name of profit or convenience, and when this happens, accidents occur. Several studies have been done in the last few years that indicate that a significant percentage of accidents involving 18-wheelers and other large trucks can be attributed at least in part to truckers’ fatigue and potential mismanagement of their vehicle.

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study

In 2015, a major study was commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to analyze patterns in crashes involving large trucks. What the study discovered was illuminating: namely, that most large truck crashes involved multiple factors, and in the majority of the studied accidents, the truck was found to be primarily at fault. When probability samples for the critical reasons for large truck accidents were studied, the driver (either of the truck or of the vehicle crashing into the truck) was found to be at least partly responsible as often as 87 percent of the time.

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 Posted on May 09, 2018 in Uncategorized

The night of April 16 proved fatal for a San Antonio motorcyclist who was thrown from his bike after attempting to avoid crashing into a car on NW Loop 410. The car had been speeding and clipped the motorcyclist, who was then thrown from his vehicle after trying to avoid a further crash. He died of his injuries at University Hospital. This type of incident is sadly not uncommon, though it is somewhat unique that the cyclist’s injuries were attributed more to the impact with the road than to the collision itself. Motorcyclists are at high risk for injury and death in any type of crash.

Many Reasons for Higher Fatality Rate

Motorcyclists are consistently shown to be disproportionately injured and/or killed in automobile accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that per vehicle miles traveled, motorcyclists were killed almost 29 times more often than automobile passengers in road accidents. Helmets and safety equipment do help in lowering the risk, but they are only estimated to be approximately 37 percent effective based on existing data. Very often, the facts are simply against the motorcyclist who gets involved in a crash.

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 Posted on May 07, 2018 in Uncategorized

On April 17, busses from the Navasota school district, about halfway between Austin and Houston, were involved in a collision with a utility truck in Fairbanks North Houston. Both students and adults were injured in the crash, requiring transport to local hospitals. While no fatalities have been reported as of this writing, the crash was nonetheless a severe one, and it is worth noting that the students and faculty were lucky – bus crashes, in particular, are prone to many injuries and even death.

Different Legal Classifications

For legal purposes, busses are divided into two different classifications, governmental and private. Private buses include commercial vehicles like Greyhound buses, charters, and shuttles like those used at airports. Government buses are public transport buses, school buses and those used for transport of the disabled. More specifically, any bus that is not considered to be owned by the general public is considered to fall under the ‘private’ heading, and as such, the law covering their liability is different than that covering governmental transportation.

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 Posted on May 02, 2018 in Uncategorized

On April 19, San Antonio police responded to a single-vehicle accident on Alamo Ranch Parkway, with one person being pronounced dead at the scene. From what first responders were able to put together, the car struck a curb and went airborne, eventually colliding with a light pole and catching fire. There was no indication of any other driver being a factor in the accident. This is not uncommon, especially on Texas’s fast-paced roads – single-vehicle accidents are a major cause of traffic fatalities in the state, most often through no fault of any individual.

Common Cause of Accident Deaths/Injuries

Single-vehicle accidents, though seemingly uncommon, actually account for a surprising amount of injuries and fatalities on Texas roads. This is especially true of the variety where a single vehicle drifts off the road (referred to in studies as an ROR, or run-off-road accident) – statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) state that this type of accident accounts for as high as 70 percent of the fatalities in single-vehicle accidents. Texas figures report that single-vehicle accidents accounted for almost 1,300 deaths in the year 2015 (the most recent available data).

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 Posted on April 25, 2018 in Uncategorized

FM 620, near the Mansfield Dam bridge, was the site of a hit-and-run accident in the early hours of Wednesday, April 11, leaving a Round Rock man in critical condition. The car that hit the man did not stay at the scene, leaving Round Rock PD little choice but to treat the accident as a hit-and-run, which is a crime. If you are the victim of a hit-and-run accident, you may be able to obtain civil compensation from the driver, as well as their possibly facing criminal charges depending on the situation.

Multiple Reasons for Hit and Runs

Hit-and-run accidents occur much more often than people might like to admit, for several different reasons – some understandable, some unreasonable, but very few excuses are reasons to avoid liability. Even if you did not intend to hit someone, Texas law holds that you have a duty to stop and aid them if you do hit someone – thus, failure to do so is punishable by law in all but the most unusual circumstances. Even something pressing – for example, striking a pedestrian and failing to stop to render aid because you were driving your pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth – will still give rise to civil liability and/or criminal charges, depending on the situation.

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 Posted on April 23, 2018 in Uncategorized

In late March and early April, multiple roads in and around San Antonio flooded, causing untold problems for commuters and other motorists. While the flooding was contained to just a few streets, I-35 and Highway 281 were both affected, causing slowdowns and damage to a few cars. While the Texas Department of Transportation’s quick response arguably prevented further problems, this is not always the case in similar episodes. Poor roads and highway obstructions are among the most common causes of auto accidents, and in some cases may even wind up rendering a city or county liable for damages.

Who May Be Liable?

There can be multiple reasons why poorly maintained roads can factor into auto accidents, and most of them have to do with negligent maintenance. While not all problems with roads can be laid at the maintaining agency’s door, many can – problems such as missing or unreadable road signs, worn-out pavement or potholes, or bad drainage can reasonably be ascribed to poor performance on the part of the agency whose task it is to keep the road in good repair. Thus, if you have been injured in an accident, and you believe that one or more of the reasons were of this type, the next logical step would seem to be reaching the entity responsible for the road’s upkeep.

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 Posted on April 18, 2018 in Uncategorized

On the evening of March 30, one person was killed in a crash with an 18-wheeler in Caldwell County, southwest of Lockhart. That person has since been identified as a San Antonio man, who was the driver. He was killed when his truck flipped and struck a guardrail, and was allegedly not wearing a seatbelt. While it can often be stereotyped as a problem only seen in reckless teenagers, not wearing a seatbelt can contribute to injury and death, especially when dealing with enormous vehicles like 18-wheelers.

Seatbelts Save Lives

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) name auto accidents as one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. for those between ages 0-54 every year, and since statistics have been kept regarding seatbelt use, they have been illuminating, to say the least. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that approximately 14,000 lives can be estimated to have been saved through seatbelt use in 2015, with even more being saved if usage were 100 percent. While this percentage might drop somewhat if one examines only truck crashes, given an 18-wheeler’s heft and forward velocity, it is still noteworthy.

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 Posted on April 16, 2018 in Uncategorized

On the afternoon of April 4, a head-on collision in west Travis County claimed two lives, as one male and one female were pronounced dead at the scene. The accident was described as a ‘two-car collision,’ later clarified to be head-on. Head-on collisions are historically the most dangerous, routinely causing the most fatalities in successive statistical years. If you manage to escape from one, bringing suit for your injuries is important, as your medical bills are likely to be high.

One of the Most Common Types

While one might think head-on collisions were rare, they are actually fairly frequent, especially in Texas, with its prevalence of two-lane roads and high-speed limits, and in general, the fatality count in frontal collisions is quite high. Data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that approximately half of all vehicle accident deaths occur in crashes where the initial impact is frontal. In Texas, roughly that number of vehicle accident deaths occur in multi-vehicle accidents (which is slightly higher than average), at least a portion of which can be estimated to be head-on.

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 Posted on April 11, 2018 in Uncategorized

Most of the time, auto accidents occur due to human error. However, in a minority of cases, a mechanical problem or other internal issue with a vehicle can also play a role. These cases become more complex than a simple auto accident – if it can be proven that a part or parts of the vehicle were defective, you may be able to win compensation from multiple defendants, depending on the facts in your case.

Texas Product Liability Law

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind regarding product liability law in Texas is that it is a strict liability offense. This means that unlike in a standard personal injury case, negligence on the part of the defendant does not have to be established – if it can be shown that the defendant’s product (that they manufactured or, in some cases, sold) had a defect, and the defect had a part in causing the accident, they will be held liable for injuries suffered by the plaintiff. This does not mean that the plaintiff somehow has an easier mission; the standard of proof to establish strict liability is fairly specific and stringent.

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