Posted on March 06, 2018 in Uncategorized

One boy was biking in Austin on February 13 when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, collapsing in a neighbor’s yard while dragging his damaged bicycle. Two days later, he died in hospital, without the driver ever being located. While leaving the scene of an accident is a crime, it is also worth noting that many bicyclists are unaware of their rights and the dangers they might face on the road.

Risk of Injury Is High

As one might expect, the risk of injury is greater for bicyclists and pedestrians on public roads than it is for drivers. Travis County is one of the top ten in Texas for both bicycle crashes and fatalities, and in general, more accidents will occur on urban roads. However, rural accidents are more likely to be fatal. The boy mentioned above was struck on Teri Road, in a relatively populated area of Austin, and walked away from the scene, which is in keeping with the statistics, even though he later died of his injuries. Urban areas tend to enforce a slower speed limit, and increased traffic also tends to impede cars from traveling as quickly as they do in rural areas.

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 Posted on February 28, 2018 in Uncategorized

Most auto accidents are caused by human error, whether that error manifests as crossing a lane or causing another automobile to crash. However, sometimes, other forces may be responsible. One which is sometimes overlooked is that automobiles are products, like any other, including their constituent parts. It is possible to show, in some cases, that your auto accident could have been caused by a defective part. This can open up an entirely different cause of action than a standard negligence case.

Texas Product Liability

Texas has fairly specific standards regarding product liability, specifying the obligations of manufacturers and sellers toward the general public. It also holds that product defect cases fall under strict liability, which means that unlike with a standard negligence case, no causation is required to show liability. If a product is designed with an inherent defect, and that defect causes harm, then the manufacturer is liable. It would be too difficult to show causation if it were required to be proven in every single case, so Texas law eliminates that step.

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 Posted on February 26, 2018 in Uncategorized

On February 8, a pedestrian trying to cross RM 620 at Briarwood Street in Round Rock was struck and killed. The car did not stop, and the pedestrian died at the scene. While the driver, if ever located, will likely face criminal charges, they might also be subject to a wrongful death lawsuit by any surviving family, or by the man’s estate. There are potential complications, however, depending on the specific nature of the situation.

Pedestrians Are Most at Risk

Generally, there is no one on the road that is at a higher risk of injury on Texas roads than pedestrians, for obvious reasons and also for reasons that might not be as readily apparent. Pedestrians obviously have less protection in the event of an accident, but they also are not able to access the tools for avoiding an accident that drivers have. For example, more and more electric cars are appearing on roads in recent years, which are advantageous for the environment but are much more dangerous for pedestrians due to their quiet operation.

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 Posted on February 21, 2018 in Uncategorized

Normally, a car accident simply happens, with any injuries being handled by your insurance company. However, if you are involved in an accident while you are on the job, the procedure to have your injuries compensated is somewhat different. If you are in a car accident with someone who is not a fellow employee, the process can become very complex. It is important to understand what your options are.

Making a Third Party Claim

While the normal remedy for accidents on the job is workers’ compensation, and the normal remedy for an accident that occurs during your off time is contacting your own insurer, an accident with another driver or actor requires making a claim with an insurance company that is not yours, and thus it is referred to as a third-party claim. This is because the only way Texas law allows you to make a claim for such an accident, as opposed to going through the workers’ compensation system, is if the accident was caused by someone other than your employer – a third party.

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 Posted on February 19, 2018 in Uncategorized

Sometimes, drivers simply drift off. On January 31, a driver of a semi-truck did just that on IH-35 near Bexar County, running into the bridge columns that support the Blanco River access road in the early morning hours. While normally, single-vehicle crashes do not take out bridge supports, semi-trucks are significantly larger than the average car. Either way, many people tend to underestimate the amount of damage that a single-vehicle accident can cause both to the vehicle and to its environs, and they tend to not understand that sometimes, others may be liable for the conditions that caused the crash.

Causes and Statistics Vary

While they may not be as flashy as multi-car accidents, single vehicle accidents can be just as dangerous. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that in 2016, approximately 52 percent of all fatal crashes nationwide were single-vehicle accidents, with Texas figures reporting exactly half of all fatal accidents as involving only one vehicle. While correlation is not necessarily causation – there are many factors that can explain the frequency of single-vehicle accident fatalities, including high-speed limits and so-called “highway hypnosis” – it is nonetheless noteworthy as many simply assume single-vehicle accidents are somehow less dangerous when they are not.

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 Posted on February 13, 2018 in Uncategorized

Accidents involving trucks can be even more dangerous and cause more injury than those with standard automobiles, due to their size and heft. Because they can be such dangerous instruments, they must also be maintained well. However, among the many possible causes of trucking accidents, improper truck maintenance is a major factor in many. It can be difficult to prove, though, so any information you are able to obtain may be of help.

Federal Violations Are Common

In the United States, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) propagates a set of rules and regulations that both trucking companies and their drivers are intended to abide by. These include routine equipment tests for everything from tires to brakes, with potential fines for missed tests and other violations. However, studies in the most recent handful of years have shown that these guidelines, as well as the rules about driver fatigue and limits on hours, are routinely violated, usually in the name of trying to save money (or make more, depending on the situation).

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 Posted on February 12, 2018 in Uncategorized

On January 24, 2018, in Seguin, a seven-car accident injured four, sending two to the hospital. The accident occurred on I-10, while a patrolman was conducting a routine traffic stop – two cars collided near the stop zone, and then others were unable to stop in time to avoid the collision itself. Only one or two of the automobiles involved struck the police car, with the others hitting the private cars that had piled up. Striking a police vehicle and causing an accident is not exactly a positive event, but if one must be involved in an auto accident, having it be with a police car actually does have some small advantages.

Coverage Will Be Present

While police departments do not generally carry car insurance in the same manner as any private driver, they will be insured by the government they protect. This matters because Texas requires a certain amount of insurance to be carried, yet many people do not, and uninsured or underinsured motorist claims are common. Recent available data from the Insurance Information Institute reports as many as 14.1 percent of Texas motorists are uninsured or underinsured – which means that if they are involved in an accident, they lack the relevant insurance that would pay their medical bills or that of anyone they injure in the accident.

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 Posted on February 07, 2018 in Uncategorized

This year, Texas has seen its share of cold weather. With cold weather tends to come ice and unfamiliar driving conditions, and when conditions are unfamiliar, accidents result – one report had as many as 230 crashes occurring in San Antonio during the week of January 15-19. If you have had the misfortune to be involved in one, it may simply be bad luck, but it may also be the result of someone’s negligence.

Deceptive Road Conditions

One of the most common reasons for accidents in Texas winter weather is that the roads may still appear to be in normal working order. For example, in areas further north where feet of snow may fall at any moment, it is a large, bright warning sign that caution is required in driving. Texans almost never have this, even if temperatures are below freezing. Black ice is very difficult to detect on the roadways, and it is one of the leading causes of accidents on non-snowy roads. It can even play a role in accidents that are in theory not caused by sliding; many people do not realize that rain is freezing until it has hit the ground.

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 Posted on February 05, 2018 in Uncategorized

In the wee hours of January 6, 2018, two people were injured when a car turned the wrong way on Texas 151, striking another driver head-on. Both drivers sustained significant injuries, with the wrong-way driver’s being more serious. While both drivers are expected to make a full recovery, they are lucky in that sense, given that wrong-way accidents kill significant numbers. If you are injured in a head-on collision, the odds are against your recovering to the same degree of health you enjoyed before the accident.

Fatalities Are Common

Wrong-way collisions are, by definition, head-on collisions, given that one driver is going against the flow of traffic. Texas roads can be dangerous, with almost 3,800 fatalities in 2016, but if one examines the statistics on head-on collisions, one can see that consistently, they account for a higher percentage of deaths than they do for crashes overall. There are many reasons for that, not least of all that the majority of vehicles simply do not have enough protection in the front, due mostly to the shape and style of car being driven more nowadays. A small, snub-nosed vehicle will protect less efficiently than a car with a long, reinforced hood.

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 Posted on January 31, 2018 in Uncategorized

When one is driving next to an 18-wheeler, one must be aware at all times that it does not behave the same way as an automobile. A semi-truck is technically in two pieces at all times, and sometimes one piece will travel at a different speed than the other, which can lead to unpredictability. When accidents occur due to this proclivity, it is referred to as jackknifing. If you have been injured in an accident with a jackknifing truck, you may be entitled to compensation, but it is imperative that you understand the ramifications of the situation.

When Does It Happen?

If one examines statistics from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), one can see that the recorded number of jackknife accidents is fairly low. However, a significantly higher percentage of jackknife accidents resulted in fatalities (5.6 percent) than injuries (roughly 0.8 percent) or property damage (0.5 percent). It is understandable to conclude that jackknife accidents are highly dangerous, even if one may not understand why.

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