Recent Blog Posts
Woman Dies after Rollover Crash On I-37
On February 17, an accident briefly closed part of I-37, as an SUV hit the wall, rolling over several times before coming to a stop. Two women were inside, and one escaped major injury, but the other was killed at the scene. The crash took some time to clean up, as the car had shed metal and debris all over the road. Unfortunately, such a pattern is all too common in rollover accidents, and it is one of the reasons they consistently are the most deadly type of car crash.
Rollovers Cause the Most Fatalities
If one examines statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), one can see that rollover accidents alone accounted for 31 percent of all car crash deaths. This is markedly higher than other types of accidents by themselves, though it is perhaps understandable. An accident is classified as a rollover if the roof of the vehicle hits the ground at least once, and when that happens, those inside the vehicle will often sustain severe injury, especially if they are not wearing a seatbelt.
TXDOT Fixes “Slick” Intersection
SH 71 and Pedernales Summit Parkway has been a problem for drivers for quite some time, with several accidents being reported at that specific intersection, and all of them being of the same character. Whenever the weather is inclement, hydroplaning is reported, with multiple crashes occasionally being observed on the same day. On the morning of February 22, work began on SH 71 at Pedernales Summit Parkway to remove the top layer of pavement to increase traction on the road. While the work should cut down on accidents, it can also help shield TXDOT and the municipality of Austin or Del Valle (depending on the agency working on the road) from potential negligence liability.
Personal Injury and Negligence
Car accident cases are most often brought under a legal theory of negligence, alleging that the poor conduct of another – most commonly, the other driver involved in an accident – was the direct cause of your injuries. In order to show that an accident was due to someone’s negligence, you must be able to show four criteria. They are: 1) the existence of a duty of care between plaintiff and defendant; 2) an evident breach of this duty; 3) a showing that your injuries were caused directly by the defendant’s actions, and 4) proof of tangible injury (in other words, injuries that would require medical attention to address).
Car Pinned Beneath 18-Wheeler in San Antonio Truck Accident
On February 12, every driver’s worst nightmare happened to the driver of a grey sedan in a parking lot just off Nacogdoches Road in San Antonio. He was attempting to leave the parking lot of an H-E-B when he failed to observe an 18-wheeler backing up, and wound up with his car lodged beneath the trailer. While the driver in this incident appears to be relatively unharmed, cases like this can be very different if injuries occur.
Trucking Accidents in Texas Are Common
Truck crashes in Texas are much more common than people may think. Bexar County in particular registered 2,517 crashes alone in 2016 (the most recent available data), with as many as 34,000 total crashes in the entire state. Almost six hundred fatalities were registered in that time, with Bexar County contributing 26 – only Dallas and Harris County had more. The reasons for this are primarily to do with the urban nature of those counties, and the congested nature of their roads, but there are multiple potential causes.
Austin Bicyclist Dies from Injuries
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.
Automobiles and Defective Parts
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.
Pedestrian Struck and Killed on RM 620
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.
Auto Accidents at Work
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.
Semi-Truck Crashes into Bridge Columns
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.
Improper Truck Maintenance Can Lead to Accidents
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).
Four Injured In Seven-Car Pile-Up
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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