Last week in El Paso’s Upper Valley, two women were killed when a semi-truck pulling a cargo trailer crashed into a passenger vehicle as the vehicle attempted a U-turn at an intersection. Texas has several hundred fatal trucking accidents every year, each accident leaving behind grieving loved ones looking for reasons for their loss. 

If you have lost someone you love in a Texas car crash, it is important to determine whether the other driver’s actions were responsible for the accident. An experienced personal injury attorney can complete an investigation into the causes of the accident on your behalf. If the other driver had even partial responsibility for the crash, you may be able to recover compensation for a wide range of losses, including lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and more. 

What Are the Most Common Causes of Passenger Vehicle and Semi-Truck Accidents? 

Passenger vehicles rarely fare well in even relatively minor crashes with semi-trucks. Semi-trucks are so much larger and heavier than passenger vehicles that small crashes can quickly become serious or fatal. Many times, the accidents are the result of the truck driver failing to pay sufficient attention to their environment or driving under heavy fatigue. Other times, passenger vehicle activity causes or contributes to crashes. 

While all types of car accidents have the potential to cause serious and even fatal injuries, rollover car accidents are responsible for a disproportionate share of car crash fatalities. The majority of rollover accidents happen on highways at high speeds and a car may roll laterally or longitudinally, depending on the speed and direction of the accident. Because drivers and passengers are commonly ejected from the car in these accidents, they easily suffer extreme injuries or death upon impact with the ground. Even when passengers’ bodies remain in the car, the chance for severe injuries is still high.

When rollover accidents occur, it is important to determine whether another driver, motorcyclist, pedestrian, or other third party was responsible for causing the accident so injured parties can bring a personal injury lawsuit. If you or someone you love was injured or killed in a rollover car accident, a Texas personal injury attorney may be able to help. 

Why Do Rollover Accidents Happen? 

Cars with a high center of gravity, like SUVs or pickup trucks, are at the greatest risk of rolling over. However, any car that is moving fast enough and which experiences a sudden change in direction can roll over. Such changes in direction can happen for a number of reasons, including side, rear, or front impact with another vehicle. In fact, rollover accidents involving multiple vehicles result in nearly twice the fatality rate as single-vehicle rollover crashes. Other causes of rollover accidents include: 

As every parent knows, children–especially infants–cannot help but put everything in their mouths. While this behavior may be an important part of childhood development, it is also a major source of stress for parents who are constantly trying to keep their children from choking to death on small objects. 

Parents are responsible for making sure that toys with small parts and known risks, such as building blocks and marbles, are kept safely out of the reach of young children. But what about toys that are supposed to be safe for infants? What about toys that break into small pieces, or packaging that fails to notify parents of the toy’s hazardous potential? If your child has been injured or killed by a toy or broken piece of a toy, you may be able to take legal action. 

Non-Fatal Choking Accidents Can Still Cause Serious Injuries

News headlines stand as a warning to parents all over the country when a young child tragically chokes to death on a toy. But even when a child does not die in a choking accident, she can still suffer serious and even life-threatening injuries. Examples of such dangerous circumstances include:

After a car accident in which another party was at fault, the other party’s insurance company will be responsible for compensating you for the damage done to your vehicle in addition to any personal injuries you may have suffered. But how do insurance companies assess a car’s value? And more importantly, how can you make sure that you are not getting shortchanged by a company trying to save a few bucks? Read on to learn more and then contact a Texas car accident injury attorney for help with your case. 

How Do Insurance Companies Assess the Value of Car Damage? 

Insurance companies use a claims adjuster to verify the basics of the accident and make an initial assessment of the cost of the damage. To do this, they need to see the car in person as soon after an accident as possible. Remember that while a claims adjuster is responsible for accurately assessing the damage done to your car, they are also looking out for the insurance company’s financial interests–meaning they might try to minimize or overlook certain damage or attribute it to a cause other than the crash. For this reason, it is always a good idea to try to be present during the adjuster’s visit.

After the initial assessment, the insurance company can consult with auto repair shops to get further information about how much it would cost to fix a damaged car. If they believe the cost of fixing the car is more than the value of the car, they may simply offer a cash settlement for a totaled car. If not, they will make an offer to compensate you to get the car fixed. 

When an 18-wheeler crashes, it can cause extreme harm to others involved. Smaller personal vehicles offer little protection from the forces involved in trucking accidents. You may be worried about how you can prove that the trucker or trucking company was at-fault if their insurance company resists admitting liability. You will need to know exactly what kind of negligent behavior the trucker was engaged in during the moments leading up to the crash. If the crash was cauesd by an equipment malfunction, you will need to know whether a part of the truck failed and contributed to the crash. Most importantly, you will need an aggressive attorney to fight for the settlement you deserve. There are a series of questions that your attorney will want to determine answers to during the truck accident injury claim investigation. 

Information Your Attorney May Seek Out

Investigating a trucking accident can be complicated. Because these crashes involve extreme forces, the accident scene may be quite a mess. Finding out exactly what happened can be quite an undertaking, but our lawyers are always up for the task. Some questions your lawyer will want to determine include:

• Was the driver intoxicated? - By federal law, the truck driver will need to be drug and alcohol tested shortly after the crash if they were issued a citation. It is more common than you would hope for big rig drivers to have a few drinks before getting on the road. Stimulant use is also common. 

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