Houston Car Accident Blog

On Sunday, February 28, 2010, a horrible car accident occurred in Bastrop on Highway 21 near 290. This two-vehicle collision resulted in the tragic deaths of three children, all under the age of 9 years old. The accident occurred around 4:30 p.m. when a pickup truck ran into the side of a van causing the van to flip over. Inside the van, three children were killed and four other people, including the driver, were injured. The driver of the pickup truck, a 19 year-old college student, and his passenger were unharmed in the wreck. According to officials, the driver of the pickup truck was not at fault because he had the right-of-way at the time of the collision.

This unfortunate accident is another example of how things can go from normal to tragic in no time at all. All too often, drivers become desensitized to the perils posed by everyday traffic. This can result in unnecessary risk-taking which can lead to tragedies like this one. If you or a loved one have been injured in a car or truck accident, contact the experienced Texas car accident lawyers at Fitts Zehl today for a free consultation.

A recent article from the Houston Chronicle highlighted the issue of police officers killed in the line of duty as a result of their failure to wear a seatbelt. While it is unclear whether or not a seatbelt would have saved the lives of any of the individuals in question, one thing remains certain, officers are normally required by their supervisors to wear a seatbelt at all times while driving. Unfortunately, many officers will find any way they can to get out of wearing the safety device, even going so far as to disable the cruiser’s onboard seatbelt warning system which flashes and makes noise when the car is moving without the driver’s seatbelt being fastened.

While officers often have very compelling reasons for not wearing the belts, including a fear of a lack of mobility in the event of an emergency, this does not change the fact that seatbelts do save lives in most types of automobile collisions. According to the article and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at least 64 officers from across the United States died in vehicular crashes between 2004 and 2008. Nearly 40% of those officers killed were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision.

In Texas, 5 out of the 13 officers killed in on-duty crashes since 2007 were not wearing seatbelts. A Burnet County officer was the most recent unbuckled fatality in Texas following his death in an accident in October of 2009. As I stated earlier, it remains unclear whether or not a seatbelt would have saved the lives of these officers. However, according to a study referenced in the article, officers are almost three times more likely to die in a car crash when their seatbelts are unbuckled.

Regardless of whether you are a police officer or not, the statistics make it very clear that if you want to maximize your chances of surviving an automobile accident you need to buckle your seatbelt. Period.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a car or truck accident, contact the experienced Houston car accident lawyers at Fitts Zehl, LLP today for a free consultation.

On February 25, 2010, a Houston woman was injured after inadvertently backing her 1996 Dodge Neon through the front glass window of the Shoe Carnival located close to Highway 59 in the 8000 block of Gessner. According to witnesses at the scene, the woman accelerated backwards and hit three other vehicles before finally crashing through the Shoe Carnival’s window and coming to a stop about 15 feet inside the store. The woman was immediately rushed to a local hospital. There is still no word as to what caused the wreck to occur.

Even though no other injuries were reported stemming from this incident, this still serves as a very real reminder of how easy it is for things to go from normal to terrifying in no time at all. If you or someone you love has been injured in a car or truck accident, contact the experienced Houston, Texas car accident lawyers at Fitts Zehl today for a free consultation.

On October 6, 2009, at 5:55 am, a horrible accident occurred in the 7800 block of Beltway 8 resulting in the injury of one man and the untimely death of his son. The man’s automobile had stalled on a section of the Beltway that did not have a shoulder lane. The two men were attempting to push the disabled vehicle in a traffic lane when they were suddenly struck from behind by another car. The driver of that car simply failed to see the two men and their automobile until it was too late. The disabled car even had its emergency hazard lights on at the time of the accident.

Devastating accidents like this happen all too often. The most important thing is to learn from the tragic mistakes of others so that the same type of incident does not happen again. If you are unfortunate enough to have your vehicle break down in the middle of a freeway, there are several things you should do, along with other things that you should not do. First, do not exit the vehicle unless it is safe to do so. You are much better protected from unforeseen accidents when you remain inside the car. Second, if you have a cell phone, contact the appropriate authorities for assistance. Otherwise, wait for a tow truck or police cruiser to arrive before stepping out onto the pavement. Also, do everything you can to make your car visible. Steer your car to the safest possible area of the freeway and turn on your hazard lights. While emergency hazard flashers are a good tool, as you saw in the above accident, they were not enough to alert the driver to the disabled car in her lane. The most important lesson to learn from this horrible accident is to avoid exiting your vehicle until it is safe to do so. Your vehicle can be replaced. You cannot be.

If you or someone you love has been injured in an automobile accident, contact the experienced car wreck lawyers at Fitts Zehl, LLP by phone at (713) 491-6064.

While it is common knowledge that alcohol and speeding are frequent causes of accidents, another type of danger to be wary of on the road is the inattentive or distracted driver. Whether talking to a passenger, using a cell phone, changing the radio or eating, a distracted driver will most likely be unable to react properly to a given situation. A sudden stop, an adjacent accident or even an animal crossing the road, while normally avoidable, could lead to serious injury or even death as a direct result of an inattentive driver’s negligence. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that at least 25% of reported accidents result from some form of driver inattention. This means that inattentive or distracted drivers are responsible for more than 1.5 million collisions per year!

Driver distraction is a form of inattention caused by some triggering event which redirects the driver’s attention away from the road to something either inside or outside of the vehicle. This triggering event is what distinguishes a distracted driver from one who is merely inattentive or not paying attention. A distraction can visually, mentally or even manually distract you by causing you to temporarily remove your hands from the steering wheel. For example, eating would be considered a manual and visual distraction while text messaging would be considered a complete manual, visual and cognitive distraction because a person sending a text must utilize their hands, eyes and mind in order to do so. Text messaging is considered one of the newest and most dangerous distractions to come along so far. According to the USA Today, since the year 2000 the use of text messaging in the United States increased from 12 million messages annually to over 16 billion messages in 2006. These numbers have continued to rise exponentially every year since. Statistically, text messaging tends to be most popular among young people. Young drivers, between 16 and 24 years of age, are often the worst offenders when it comes to driving while texting, or DWT as it has come to be called. In fact, a researcher from the University of Utah reported that a staggering 70% of minors surveyed admitted to texting while driving.

According to the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), a Washington D.C. based group, found that 94% of all drivers admitted to engaging in activity that could have potentially been distracting; including interacting with passengers, talking on a cell phone and changing the radio station. Further, this distracted driver phenomenon extends not only to private individuals but to drivers of commercial or work vehicles. In 2001, NETS conducted a phone survey that indicated 39% of all engagement in potentially distracting behavior took place while the drivers were on the job. Generally, whether texting or talking, cell phone use while driving is a very common cause of accidents. According to a Harvard study, cell phone users are nearly 5 times more likely to be involved in car accidents than those who did not use the device.

In conclusion, it is important to avoid distractions whenever possible. Always maintain focus and pay undivided attention to the road. Avoid interacting with passengers, keep your eyes on the road and keep both hands on the wheel. In addition, do not drive while tired, upset or intoxicated in any way. If you or someone you love has been injured in an auto accident, contact the experienced car accident lawyers at Fitts Zehl, LLP for a free consultation by phone (713) 491-6064 or by email info@houston-car-accident-lawyer.com. The trial attorneys at Fitts Zehl look forward to aggressively representing you in your auto accident claim.

Accident victims injured by uninsured motorists should not be surprised. The Houston Chronicle reports that twenty percent of Texas drivers do not carry the minimum auto insurance as required by Texas law. This means that there are almost four million drivers on Texas roads who to not carry the minimum amount of automotive insurance coverage. In an effort to crackdown on uninsured drivers, the State has developed a new database of Texas drivers called TexasSure. This database should help state and local officers quickly and accurately verify whether a driver has the appropriate automotive insurance as required by law.
If you have been hit by a drunk, uninsured driver, you could be the one responsible for your medical treatment unless you have underinsured or uninsured coverage added to your automotive insurance policy. One such person placed in this situation is Carlos Rodriguez. The Chronicle reports that Carlos Rodriguez, a survivor of a drunk driver collision, would have been required to pay for two surgeries and four months of physical therapy so he could learn to walk again, had he not had uninsured motorist coverage added to his automotive insurance policy.
If your policy has this coverage, you insurance company will “step in” and pay for your medical treatment, lost wages, and pain and suffering if you are hit by an uninsured motorist in the Houston Metro area. If you have been hit by an uninsured motorist or a drunk uninsured driver in Texas, please contact our Houston automobile accident attorneys for a free review of your insurance policy to see what benefits you may be entitled to under your automotive insurance policy.

Although not widely known, a Federal Bankruptcy Court has exempted the “new” Chrysler for past liabilities related to defective cars. Analysts are predicting that people injured by the “old” Chrysler and Jeep will only be able to seek compensation from the “old” Chrysler entity. This will lead to substantially less money available to compensate drivers and passengers who were injured in auto accidents caused by defective Chrysler products.Many public watchdog groups are pushing Congress to intervene, but many believe that government intervention will not occur because it would require the goverment to write an ”endless check to deal with the situation.” One alternative solution would be to require the Chrysler to set up a special trust to compensate accident injury victims who were injured because of a Defective Chrysler or Jeep product.

If you have been injured in a car accident by a defective Chrysler product, you may lose your right to recover from Chrysler for putting a defectively designed or manufactured product on the road. If you believe you have been injured in an auto accident which was caused by a defective Chrysler or Jeep product, please contact the houston automobile accident attorneys today.

If you have been hit by a teenage driver in Texas, you should not be alarmed about the results from Allstate’s recent Texas teen driving habit study. Of 233 Texas teen drivers polled, over fifty percent admit to drinking and driving. The survey also surveyed teen drivers on whether they engage in text-messaging and cell phone use while driving. A staggering eighty-eight percent admitted to text-messaging and cell phone use while driving. It is also noteworthy that over a third of the teenage drivers surveyed were involved in a car accident during their first year behind the wheel.

If you are a parent of a Texas teenage driver, please sit down and talk to your teenager about how to reduce text-message, cell phone and drunk driving related car accidents and collisions.

Harris County, the most populated county in the state of Texas, is a great place to live. With such a large population, however, one would expect that there are quite a few auto accidents that take place within the county limits each year. Unfortunately, Harris county has the dubious distinction of consistently leading the state in traffic-related fatalities each year. Harris county averaged 373 fatalities per year between 2003 and 2007. Dallas County was a distant second with an average of 239 fatalities per year.

Harris County also leads the state in alcohol-related accidents with 2,202 occurring in 2008 alone. Drivers in Harris county must be on alert at all times for signs of a negligent or drunk driver. If someone appears to be operating their vehicle in a negligent manner (e.g. speeding, changing lanes without signaling or weaving from lane to lane as if intoxicated or distracted) move away from them as soon as possible. It only takes a split-second for an accident to occur. Don’t take any chances.

If you or someone you love has been victimized by a careless or negligent driver contact the experienced Houston car accident attorneys by phone (713) 491-6064.  We will work hard to hold negligent drivers accountable for their actions.

The Washington Post has recently published results from a motor vehicle collision study that may explain why ninety percent of world wide car collission occur in countries with fewer than half of the cars.

The report indicated that car accidents rank number ten in the leading causes of death in the world, behind fifth ranked lung cancer, but head of diabetes.  The study also indicated that 46 percent of all traffic accidents involve pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcycle riders.  A correlation was shown between high income and low income counties.  The higher the income, the fewer the amount of fatalities.  

Although the United States is a high income country, thousands of preventable auto accidents occur every day in the major cites of Texas including Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio.  Many people are injured after being hit by a drunk driver or by a driver who was using their cell phone instead of monitoring traffic. If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident in the State of Texas, please contact the Houston Car Accident Lawyers for a free consultation