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Standing on the side of the road after a car accident can be a surreal experience. It may feel like you are watching a very bad movie but you cannot seem to change the channel. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye but can change the course of your life. If you have been injured, you probably have a lot of questions about how the accident happened, what to do about the injuries you may have experienced, and how you are going to pay for all the expenses that are a natural result of an accident.
Let our experience and knowledge work for you during this complicated process. If you were injured or lost a loved one in a deadly car accident in Fort Worth or the surrounding areas, call our attorneys to learn more about the specifics of your case in a free, confidential legal consultation. Call our Fort Worth car accident death lawyers today at (817) 476-1797.
Hiring a Lawyer for a Car Accident in Fort Worth
At The Queenan Law Firm, P.C., we are firm believers that hard work and dedication are essential to upholding and defending every client’s rights. That is why we fight tirelessly to get you the compensation you deserve after an accident. We know how difficult and stressful recovering from an accident can be, especially after losing a loved one.
Our Fort Worth car accident lawyers have helped victims of tragic car accidents in Fort Worth deal with the results of the crash, and we have fought to get them financial compensation for the damages they faced in the crash. Our lawyers have also represented many families whose loved ones were killed in serious car crashes in and around Fort Worth. For help with either type of case, call our lawyers today.
Our attorneys can help regardless of what type of accident you were involved in. From minor fender bender cases to severe pileup accidents, fatal car accidents, and crashes causing permanent, life-altering injuries, our Fort Worth car accident lawyers can help.
Common Causes of Car Accident Deaths in Fort Worth
Serious car accidents are one of those things that you might think will never happen to you. However, there is always a chance you may be involved in a crash, not because of your own driving, but because of another person’s careless or reckless driving. Every day, people disregard traffic laws, potentially putting the lives of those around them in danger. According to various sources, thousands of people face severe injuries or wrongful from car accidents each year in the United States. For instance, according to the NSC (National Safety Council), in 2018, 40,000 people lost their lives in car accidents in the U.S. Additionally, according to the NSC, 2018 marked the third year in a row where at least 40,000 Americans lost their lives in car crashes across the nation.
These numbers only reflect some of the dangers which many drivers are exposed to every year in Texas and around the country. A car crash can be difficult for the victims and their families, especially if they lost a loved one in the crash. Many factors can lead to or contribute to car accident deaths. We discuss some of the most common causes of fatal car crashes below.
Speeding
Speeding is one of the most prevalent causes of car crashes in the United States. Every year, speed-related car accidents are responsible for thousands of injuries and deaths nationwide. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speeding killed 9,378 people in the United States in 2018. Speeding is a dangerous practice, responsible for more than 25% of all car accidents throughout the nation.
Many laws require drivers to abide by every rule that attempts to preserve safety on the road. However, not everyone complies with the law as written, and many drivers decide to drive as they wish instead. This can lead to dangerous practices, such as excessive speeding. If you lost a loved one due to the negligent acts or omissions of a dangerous driver in Fort Worth, we may be able to help.
Driving Under the Influence (DUI)
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is another leading cause of car accidents in the U.S. Every year, thousands of people lose their lives due to alcohol-related car accidents. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), every 50 minutes, someone dies in an alcohol-related crash in the U.S.
However, alcohol is not the only substance that affects driving and causes car accidents; illegal drugs and prescription medication can also cause impaired driving that could lead to a fatal car accident. In some cases, some drivers may use prescription medication or illicit drugs in tandem with alcohol. This makes for a deadly combination that can also lead to fatal car crashes.
Distracted Driving
Distracted driving is another leading cause of many car crashes. In recent years, distractions while driving have been primarily caused by electronic devices. Things like a car’s touch screen, a tablet, or a smartphone can be distracting enough to cause an accident. While there have been numerous campaigns, advertisements, and laws working to end the use of electronic devices while driving, people keep engaging in this practice thinking they can handle driving and texting at the same time. However, these mistakes in judgment often cause serious injuries and death instead. Our dedicated car accident death attorneys can help you get the compensation you deserve for your losses.
Car accidents can happen in many different situations. They might occur due to speedy highway driving or bumper-to-bumper traffic, but they can also occur on side streets and in parking lots. How vehicles collide with other vehicles, objects, and even pedestrians impacts the resulting injuries.
The Common Types of Crashes that Cause Injuries and Claims
Car crashes can occur in many different ways. When a driver causes an accident, the type of accident often helps insurance companies, attorneys, and jurors determine who caused the crash. For instance, an accident in an intersection is often the fault of the driver who did not have a green light. We explain some of the most common accident types, how fault is determined in these cases, and what kinds of injuries are most common.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions are a very common car accident where one car crashes into the rear of another car. There are many reasons why there may be a rear-end collision but generally, it is the result of a driver not paying attention and noticing that the car in front of them has come to a complete stop. Because of this, the driver who has actually hit the car in front of them is generally considered to be at fault for the accident. Injuries that typically result from this type of accident include whiplash.
Side-Impact Collisions
These types of accidents tend to be more severe than rear-end accidents because of the location of the impact in relation to the passengers. These types of accidents are also known as T-bone collisions and tend to occur at intersections where one car continues through a red light or stop sign while another car is in the intersection. Depending on the speed of the vehicles, a side-impact collision can cause a car to roll over or spin into other lanes of traffic. In addition, injuries can be more or less severe depending on the type of car and the type of safety features that are included in the car in addition to the speed the cars are traveling.
Vehicle Rollovers
anytime a car is struck at a sufficient speed, there is the chance that the car could roll over or flip. Depending on the speed and the direction that the cars were traveling, cars – and particularly SUVs – can roll multiple times. When there is a rollover, there are unique injuries and dangers that some of the other listed accidents do not always pose. Traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, are more likely in these types of accidents because of the rapid and sudden change in direction.
Pileups
Often accidents happen in crowded and congested areas. In those cases, there is often more than one car involved. Pileups usually occur on highways or freeways. These types of accidents tend to be the most dangerous, deadly, and most likely to cause massive damage to personal property and injuries to the people and passengers involved.
In many pileups, there is one initial accident that happens because of a serious mistake, often at high speeds. Drivers who are drunk, speeding in dangerous weather, or otherwise failing to pay attention to the road often end up rear-ending another driver or leaving their lane and causing an accident with another car at the front of the pileup. Even if this initial accident is not too severe, drivers may swerve at high speed or slam on the breaks, and drivers behind them end up crashing into them as well. On highways like I-35, cars and trucks could end up in huge pileups, potentially injuring dozens of people.
If you are injured in a pileup, it is especially important to seek legal representation for your car accident case. Our Fort Worth pileup car accident attorneys can help with these kinds of crashes and undertake investigations to show what happened in your portion of the accident and how you were a victim rather than a participant in causing the crash. Especially after fatal pileup accidents, an attorney’s help can be incredibly important for getting the family of the victim the compensation they deserve from the drivers who caused the pileup.
Icy Road Accidents
Although ice and snow are not particularly common in the Fort Worth area, when it does snow, accidents happen. Icy rain and snow often cause crashes because the roads are not treated for bad weather conditions and drivers are not used to these conditions. If you were in an accident when the weather was bad, the question of who is at fault will still need to be answered. Driving in bad weather might be dangerous, but that does not mean that you are at fault for the crash just because you were out on the road in bad weather. Typically, these crashes happen when drivers do not reduce their speed to account for snow and ice. Those drivers who act like bad weather conditions are not important could be liable for the crashes they cause.
Suing for Icy Road and Bad Weather Car Accidents in Fort Worth
When bad weather strikes, roadworks departments and drivers in the Fort Worth area are often unprepared. Driving tasks like commuting to work, getting the kids to school, and running daily errands often must go on even when freezing rain, sleet, or snow halts traffic. Drivers who fail to adjust their driving to the bad weather conditions are often at fault for crashes.
Under some circumstances, bad weather might make a crash unavoidable. However, when drivers fail to take reasonable steps to slow down, leave a greater following distance, avoid skidding, and make other adjustments, they could be putting other drivers and passengers at risk. If another driver failed to adjust their driving to bad weather, that could furthermore be a violation of their duty as a driver, which could satisfy half of the elements necessary to prove fault in a Fort Worth car accident case.
After these elements are proven, you must prove that those mistakes factually caused the crash. Again, if the accident was unavoidable because of the weather, this might get in the way of proving negligence, but our attorneys can help to sort out the facts in your case and prove causation.
Lastly, our Fort Worth car accident attorneys will have to prove what damages you faced before you can get damages for a bad weather car crash in Fort Worth. This means showing what damages you faced for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages.
Filing a Claim for Deadly Car Accident in Fort Worth
The last thing you may want to think about following a tragic accident is filing a lawsuit and getting involved in a legal matter. However, car accident injury and death cases often require immediate action to start down the road to receiving compensation. A dedicated Fort Worth car accident attorney can work on your behalf to hold the liable parties accountable while you take the time to mourn and recover from your difficult experience. We understand that no amount of money can undo what happened. Still, compensation can help you during your recovery process, especially when there are medical bills, burial expenses, and other costs associated with the accident.
Fatal car accidents can occur in many ways. Sometimes fatal pileup accidents in Fort Worth and other serious crashes could leave families without their loved ones and saddle them with enormous medical debt, lost wages, and other damages. Our Fort Worth car accident lawyers can help you fight to get your family taken care of after a spouse, parent, or other loved one dies in a fatal car crash.
There are, however, several elements you must prove to win a case like this. Wrongful death claims – which can include cases of death in a car crash – require the plaintiff to prove several elements to the court in order to obtain compensation. The elements you will likely need to prove are the duty the defendant owed the victim, a breach of the defendant’s duty, that the breach of duty was a direct cause of the injury and death, and the value of the damages you faced. Once you have shown the existence of all of these elements in your claim, the court can compensate you for your losses and damages. Our Houston car accident attorneys can help you prove your case.
Intersection Accidents in Fort Worth, TX
Accidents at intersections are often more common than accidents on straight roads where the lanes of travel never cross. When one driver has to cross another driver’s path, it is important that all drivers are following the rules of the road, posted signs, and traffic signals to help avoid crashes. Often, the clear-cut traffic rules in Texas allow Fort Worth car crash lawyers to determine who is at fault and hold them liable for any injuries they caused in an intersection accident.
Whenever a crash happens in an intersection, the courts and insurance companies will look at who was in the intersection legally to determine who caused the crash. If either driver entered the intersection tn a red light or before they stopped at a stop sign, the courts will be able to say that they were at least partially at fault for the crash. Any drivers who were in the intersection on a green light or after stopping and waiting their turn at a stop sign are often the clear victims in an intersection accident.
Car accidents at intersections on Fort Worth highways and streets can often be severe, especially if either driver was driving at full speed when the other car entered the intersection. This is common in cases where drivers do not yield before making a left turn across another lane of traffic or when drivers boldly run red lights or stop signs.
Talk to a lawyer about the facts and circumstances of your crash for help determining who was at fault and fighting for damages in court or through an insurance claim.
Determining Whose Insurance Covers the Damages in a Fort Worth Car Accident Case
When there has been an accident, figuring out who is to blame is not always an easy task, but it is important because who is determined to be at fault will be the person that will have to pay. Under Texas law, all drivers are required to but at least the minimum amount of insurance when they are driving. Texas uses a 30/60/25 system to allocate damages. Under this system, 30,000 is devoted to each injured person up to a total of 60,000 per accident, and up to 25,000 for property damage.
Texas uses a “fault” system when it comes to auto insurance. The Texas Department of Insurance has provided a definition of sorts for what exactly a fault system is. According to their site, a “fault” system is one that requires drivers to “pay for the accidents they cause.” After an auto accident occurs, any of the occupants in the respective vehicles who suffered an injury can file a claim to seek compensation from the other driver’s insurer.
A driver, passenger, or pedestrian who suffered the injury in the crash may decide to file a claim with his or her own auto insurance first. This sort of claim is what is known as a “first-party” claim because, as its name implies, it is because the claimant is filing against their own insurance policy instead of someone else’s policy. Conversely, the injured person may also decide to seek compensation from the other driver’s insurance company from any one of the 30/60/25 categories by filing what’s known as a “third-party” claim. Finally, an injured person may also choose to go to court and file a lawsuit in order to prove fault and seek money damages for injuries, property damage, pain and suffering, and other losses related to the accident.
Our Forth Worth Car Accident Attorneys Can Help
When you work with us here at Queenan Law, you are more than just another case and a dollar sign to us. We take a personal interest in all of our clients and do our very best to serve their legal needs and accommodate them and their particular needs. It’s our stance that the victims of car accidents deserve to be compensated for hardships they have been burdened with as a result of other drivers’ thoughtless actions. Call our Fort Worth personal injury lawyers at (817) 476-1797 to schedule your free and confidential legal consultation.