Most passenger vehicles’ side panels have less reinforcement than the front or back. Providing significant support would make the doors too heavy for most drivers and passengers to manage efficiently.
During side-impact accidents, one car collides with the side panel of another, forcefully striking the weakest part of the vehicle. If the striking vehicle is a truck, the occupants of smaller passenger cars could suffer devastating injuries.
Do not attempt to handle a claim alone if you were hurt in a side-impact truck accident in Houston. A dedicated truck crash attorney at Roberts Markland LLP could help you hold the negligent parties responsible for the harm they caused you.
When a semi hits a car or SUV on its side, passengers are vulnerable to significant injuries, even if their vehicle has side curtain airbags. Unfortunately, the heavier the truck, the more damage it could do to a smaller car. Common injuries among victims of T-bone collisions include:
Many vehicle occupants also suffer severe facial injuries from contact with the windshield, dashboard, or steering column after a side-impact accident. Sadly, several of these injuries could require significant recovery time. In some cases, crash victims may not fully recover.
Side-impact crashes often happen at intersections when a vehicle misses a stop sign or tries to beat a red light. These collisions can also occur when a driver attempts a left turn in front of oncoming traffic.
Unfortunately, large blind spots on tractor-trailers could lead to a side-impact collision if a truck makes a wide turn without seeing a vehicle in an adjacent lane. In addition, Semis require an appropriate amount of time to decelerate, so a trucker might see a car stopped in an intersection but not have enough time to avoid colliding with it.
Because semi-truck drivers have commercial driving licenses and are much larger than other vehicles, a skilled truck crash attorney in Houston could prove a negligent trucker did not comply with a safety law or rule.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §13.003 establishes that all parties to a lawsuit are liable to pay a percentage of an injured person’s damages depending on their degree of responsibility. For example, if an injured person’s conduct contributed to a wreck, they could collect the percentage of their damages resulting from others’ actions. However, an injured person cannot collect any damages if they are more than 50% responsible for a crash.
An injured claimant might bear partial responsibility for a tractor-trailer accident if they were driving in a semi’s blind spot and the trucker’s inability to see them led to a T-bone incident. Similarly, sometimes drivers miscalculate an oncoming truck’s speed and turn into its path, leading to a side-impact collision.
In many cases, an injured motorist who contributed to a wreck can collect partial damages from a trucker or their employer. Since semi drivers owe a higher standard of care to other motorists on the road, an experienced lawyer in Houston could find evidence of recklessness and fight to obtain partial damages for negligent claimants involved in T-bone accidents.
Securing appropriate compensation after a tractor-trailer crash is often challenging. Trucking is a big business, and the insurance companies working for them often attempt to limit payouts to injured motorists.
Retaining a hardworking personal injury attorney after a side-impact truck accident in Houston could be crucial to securing a favorable case outcome. A legal professional could stand up to the company’s insurers and fight until you get the compensation you deserve. Call today.
