Five Hospitalized After Multiple-Vehicle Rollover Crash
Recently, a multiple-vehicle rollover accident occurred in the 6200 block of Loyola Lane, in East Austin. One adult was ejected from their vehicle, and was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center with injuries “thought not to be life-threatening.” Another adult, as well as three young children, were taken to hospitals as well, though their injuries appeared to be less serious. Law enforcement originally thought that a third vehicle had left the scene, but later revised that assumption. If you are injured in this potentially deadly type of accident, the harm you suffered is likely extensive. If you believe that someone else was responsible for your injuries, you may be able to bring suit against that person and seek compensation for their negligence.
Causes and Effects
Rollover crashes are some of the most deadly, making up a disproportionate percentage of road accident deaths in most years. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimate that deaths in rollover accidents make up as many as 30 percent of the total, while the number of overall accidents only registers around two percent. There are many reasons for this increased lethality, though a major reason is that rollover crashes tend to be extremely sudden and violent events, which gives passengers little time to react, especially if they are not wearing seatbelts, which many are not.
Causes of rollover crashes are many, though multi-vehicle rollovers tend to be rarer than single-vehicle accidents. Rollover accidents disproportionately occur at night, on rural roads, at high speed, and very often alcohol is involved. While the Loyola Lake accident did occur in the wee hours of the morning, law enforcement did not report any alcohol usage or high speed. It is possible that these factors were apparent and just not reported, but there may also have been other reasons that one or both vehicles lost control.
How to Bring Suit
A slim majority of rollover accidents are single-vehicle, but if you are injured in a multi-vehicle crash, you may have the ability to file a civil suit seeking compensation from the driver and potentially, other actors. Negligence cases are the most common, and in order to establish that the other person was negligent, you must be able to show that they owed a duty of care toward you – a motorist, for example, owes a duty to exercise reasonable care toward every other motorist on the road – and that the duty was breached by the defendant’s actions.
Depending on your specific case, however, there are other legal theories that you may be able to use in a lawsuit. One often seen is product liability, if you can establish that a part of your vehicle (or the vehicle as a whole) malfunctioned in a way that played a significant role in your injuries. Weak roof pillars, defective auto glass, and malfunctioning seatbelts are just some of the potential product defects that can play a role in accidents -, particularly rollover accidents, as all of these can lead to vehicle ejections. The first injured person on Loyola Lane might have a case to bring on this basis.
Contact a New Braunfels Rollover Crash Lawyer
While it remains to be seen what legal action the Loyola Lane accident victims may pursue, you may have different options. The skilled New Braunfels rollover accident attorneys at the Bettersworth Law Firm are ready to assist you with any questions you may have about your case. Call us today at 888-392-0039 for a free consultation.
Source:
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/adult-children-declared-trauma-alerts-after-crash-on-loyola-lane/
