Recent Blog Posts
Texting and Driving Is Now Illegal in Texas
On September 1, a long-awaited texting and driving ban became law in Texas, after being proposed three times before and being vetoed or dying in committee each time. Texas had been one of only four states without a texting and driving ban of any kind, but after several high-profile accidents, including a March collision between a texting driver and a bus full of elderly people, lawmakers pushed it through. While most people are pleased due to the decreased likelihood of dangerous accidents, others are confused and want to ensure they do not accidentally fall foul of the new law.
Statistics and Caveats
This bill is seen as a win, albeit a partial win, for ban advocates. The most recent available data shows approximately 110,000 automobile crashes in Texas during 2016 that involved distracted driving, with texting & driving being arguably the most common root cause of that distraction. Over 3,500 serious injuries and fatalities resulted from those crashes, of which the highest percentage was aged 16-34. Groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and StopDistractions.org were active in the fight to get the bill passed, arguing that such a rate was simply too high, especially for young people.
Helicopter Crashes on US-281
In early September, two people were injured when a private helicopter lost power while trying to land at Burnet Municipal Airport, just north of Austin. While no one in the craft was seriously injured, motorists on US 281 were understandably shocked and alarmed, as the helicopter crash-landed onto the lanes of the highway. While aircraft crashes are thankfully rare, it does beg the question of how foreseeable either might be, and whether it would affect a passenger’s ability to bring suit.
Accidents and Negligence
Whatever conveyance you may be riding in, there are certain obligations that both passengers and drivers must abide by while out on public roads or in public airspace. There is an implied duty of care owed to drivers by other drivers on the road; the breach of that duty can give rise to a negligence claim. This would also apply to aircraft or watercraft; for example, two boats sharing a waterway must exercise due care, lest something go wrong. These duties originate in common law, which means that they are not necessarily in any statute, but rather are passed down via past judicial precedent.
Fatal Truck Accidents
In most accidents involving 18-wheeler trucks, a rear end collision can easily prove fatal to any passenger, simply because many commercial cars and trucks lack any substantial trunk or back end that can absorb a fearsome impact. However, an accident on I-35 near Pearsall, south of San Antonio, shows that multiple trucks colliding can be just as bad if not worse. On August 3, 2017, three or four semi trucks (accounts vary) came together in a chain rear-end collision as debris on the road required a sudden traffic slowdown. One driver was killed, and the others were transported to the nearest hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Even Truckers Must Be Careful
What accidents like this show us is that even truckers must exercise due care at all time, despite the stereotype that nothing can injure the driver of a semi-truck. Rear-end collisions, in particular, do not discriminate; any impact from the rear that is strong enough to be felt (and strong enough to cause a semi truck to jackknife or drift out of its lane) will leave significant marks on drivers and passengers. The most common injury sustained in rear-end collisions is whiplash, which can cause significant soft tissue damage that lasts.
Accident Liability
Given how much of southern Texas is located on a floodplain, it is not at all surprising that roads around New Braunfels and San Antonio flood with relative frequency. Recently, flooding was out of control to the point where it required the closure of I-10 into Louisiana, which raises several questions, especially if you were one of the motorists inconvenienced by I-10’s closure. Roads do flood – is anyone responsible? The driver of the car that hit yours? The municipality tasked with maintaining the roads? While it does depend on the situation, this can be a difficult question to answer.
The Driver
As one might imagine, more often than not it is the other driver involved in your accident who is likeliest to be held liable. However, in an accident involving hazardous road conditions, it can be difficult to pinpoint how much of your injuries are due to alleged negligence of the other driver, and how much is due to the road. It may be possible to get into issues of complex causation – in other words, to establish that the accident had more than one cause, and without both factors, it may not have occurred.
Three Dead after Truck Hits Group Helping Injured Motorcyclist
In late July, three men were killed on a frontage road of I-35 after being hit by a truck while stopping to assist a motorcyclist who had fallen off his vehicle. The motorcyclist and his nephew and one other person died at the scene, while another person was injured. The truck driver stopped to offer help, and while he is not currently facing criminal charges, it is not a leap to assume that a wrongful death civil suit may be filed by the motorcyclist’s family and/or next of kin. Wrongful death is one of the leading causes of action that comes from auto accidents, and Texas has very specific laws surrounding these suits.
Time and Plaintiffs Are Limited
One important thing to remember about wrongful death cases in Texas is that the statute of limitations is quite short. You only have two years from the date of the person’s passing to bring the appropriate wrongful death suit – while this may seem like a long time, it is definitely not, especially when one considers the time that will be spent obtaining records and taking care of the deceased person’s estate. This may seem unreasonable, but after too long, memories begin to fade. Statutes of limitations are meant to curb the tendency of human beings to devolve into he-said, she-said arguments – if a case must be tried when memories are fresh, it will likely be handled more quickly and appropriately.
One-Fifth of Deadliest Highways in Texas Are Close to Home
In July 2017, a study was released on the deadliest highway in Texas, based on multiple factors, including fatality frequency and the type of highway. The findings were, to those familiar with Texas roads, not all that surprising; many of the most dangerous roads could be found in small-to-middling towns – the deadliest highway in the state according to the study was IH 69, specifically the stretch at mile point 170, in Edinburg, TX – but what was noteworthy to many was the concentration of deadly stretches of highway found in the San Antonio-to-Austin corridor. Almost 30 percent of the roads cited in the study can be found in one or both cities. While the odds of an accident are still comparatively low overall, it is worth noting that if you are a frequent driver on any of these roads, you may wish to be more careful.
Why Such High Body Counts?
If one looks at the demographics and makeup of both San Antonio and Austin, one can see similarities, at least in terms of traffic patterns. Both metro areas have a high fatality rate spread fairly evenly throughout the city limits (as opposed to occurring in isolated areas), as San Antonio has ten deadly stretches of highway and Austin has seven. Both metro areas are also noticeably congested – in studies of the busiest U.S. cities, San Antonio and Austin both showed similar congestion levels and amount of rush hours. It is plausible to draw the inference that cities laid out in the same way as these two, congestion almost certainly contributes to impatient and reckless driving, which boosts fatality counts.
Pedestrian Struck and Killed On I-35
The first weekend in August was deadly on I-35, headed through Austin. Around 9:30 PM on August 3, 2017, a young woman in her thirties was struck and killed while crossing the road. Her identity was not released, nor was her motivation for being on the road at the time made clear. While highway deaths are sadly an everyday occurrence, it is somewhat more unusual for a pedestrian to be crossing an interstate highway. It gives rise to good questions about the frequency of pedestrian accidents in and around Austin, and what to do if you find yourself in such a situation.
The Duty of Care in Negligence Law
When an auto accident results in injury or death, the person affected (or their loved ones) may be able to bring suit under a theory of negligence law or wrongful death, which is essentially a subset of negligence law. Either way, one central question that must be asked is whether the defendant in the suit owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, and if so, did they breach it. There are four tenets to any negligence case – the existence of a duty, the alleged breach of that duty, a showing that the defendant’s conduct caused the accident, and a showing of tangible harm suffered by the plaintiff. If no duty of care exists, the rest of the criteria are moot.
T-Bone Collisions
On July 14, 2017, one man was killed and one woman critically injured when her pickup t-boned a Chevrolet in Garfield, off Texas 71. The woman was taken to South Austin Medical Center, while four other passengers were uninjured. While this accident claimed only one life, T-bone or broadside accidents are among the most dangerous one can experience. Understanding what might happen in such an accident may help you avoid the worst of one in the future.
Injuries and Fatalities Are High
As one might imagine, injuries and deaths in T-bone accidents are somewhat more frequent than in other types of accidents. In a front or rear-end collision, there are several feet of metal and crumple zones to protect the driver and passengers, but there is almost nothing to protect you in a side collision besides the door, which is mere sheet metal. Seat belts do very little to help, either, since the force of the accident is not hitting the person head on.
Truck Driver Fatigue a Common Cause of Accidents
In Texas, it is all too common to see big rigs on freeways and main roads, and if one grows up in New Braunfels or San Antonio, learning how to exist on the road with them is a part of learning how to drive. However, when someone does not know what they are doing, 18-wheelers become much more dangerous, and that danger is made even more real if the truck driver is not at their best. If you have been in an accident with an 18-wheeler, understanding what is and is not appropriate for their drivers can give you insight you can use in your case for compensation.
National Statistics Show a Trend
A Public Health Policy paper from 2013 shows that underreporting of hours and maladjusted sleep schedules are common in the trucking industry. Almost 20 percent of drivers surveyed admitted to falling asleep at the wheel one or more times in the previous month. While rules for driver safety do exist, having been promulgated in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations, they are often ignored, and most of the reasons are economic. Payment schedules are quite low, and delivery timetables are tight.
Two Dead, One Injured in Austin Motorcycle Crash
In early June 2017, , a man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a truck on FM 973 in Austin. His passenger was injured, but her unborn child did not survive. The driver of the truck that hit him was later charged with intoxication manslaughter, which may rise to two counts after the fetus was declared no longer viable. This is a sad yet common story in Texas, but it nevertheless reflects just how dangerous motorcycling can be even when one does everything right.
Statistics Show Significantly Higher Risks
The most recent available data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows a slight uptick in motorcyclist deaths from the previous year at 4,693. That constitutes approximately 13 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2015, which is more than double the amount seen a decade before. One notable trend is that almost two-thirds of the fatalities were sustained in multiple-vehicle crashes, which is slightly higher than previous years, but roughly in keeping with trends.
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