Car Accidents

June 14, 2019

Wrong-Way Crash in North Fort Worth Causes Fatality

Near Same Location as Deadly Wrong-Way Crash Last Year

Texas leads the country in many ways. But not all of them are good, like being #1 in the number of times a wrong-way cr ash happens. Sadly, 237 Texans die in these collisions each year and one of these easily preventable collisions just happened again. This time a driver sped down the wrong side of Jacksboro Highway near Lakeside and slammed head-on into another vehicle. The other driver was hospitalized and was lucky to survive.

There are several reasons why these idiotic wrong-way crashes happen. Usually of course it’s alcohol and/or drugs. But sometimes a driver is on medications, drowsy, easily confused, or elderly. And in crazy cases, these crashes happen when the driver is fleeing the police, as was the case earlier this year at almost the same location.

In all cases, we must do more to stop innocent motorists from being hurt.

Using Modern Technology to Reduce Their Frequency

Texas transportation authorities are taking steps reduce the number of wrong-way crashes. These techniques include sensors and related technological devices that notify law enforcement officers when a driver has entered a highway going the wrong way.

June 11, 2019

Common Causes of Car Accidents in Dallas-Fort Worth

by William K. Berenson

Hundreds of thousands of new residents are adding to the high rate of car crashes

Our DFW area was the fastest-growing area in the U.S. last year. Fort Worth almost added the most people in the country. Cowtown is suddenly the 13th largest city in the U.S., with our population almost doubling to about 900,000 people in less than 20 years. And other cities in North Texas, including Frisco, McKinney, and Rowlett, were among the top 10 fastest-growing cities last year. But that’s not all good news. With this rapid population growth comes a serious problem that I see on a daily basis: more car accidents in Dallas-Fort Worth and sadly, more injuries and deaths.

The word has clearly gotten out about how great it is to live in Texas. Millions of people have found out this is the one of the best places to live on the planet. Texas adds almost 400,000 new residents a year, the most of any state in the U.S.

But Texas highways were already among the country’s most dangerous. Here in North Texas parts of I-35 and I-20 are on the top 10 worst roads lists in the U.S. An estimated 3,600 people tragically lose their lives in car and truck wrecks each year, one every two hours. A fellow Texan is injured in a vehicle ever two minutes.

I’ve lived here most of my life since I found out about the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin and transferred from a small liberal arts college in the East back in 1974. I wasn’t born here but I got here as fast as I could.

June 6, 2019

Why So Many Road Fatalities in Fort Worth and Dallas?

by William K. Berenson

12 road fatalities in Fort Worth and Dallas area in just the last 5 days! (Edited)

It is shocking that over 3,500 people die on Texas roads each year — many of them here in North Texas. These stories are heart-breaking:

1. Yesterday a crash between an 18-wheeler and a Corvette sadly claimed the life of a 26-year-old man in Fort Worth. Two others were injured, one critically. The crash shut down Loop 820 in the eastbound direction near the I-35 interchange for hours. It is not known what caused the crash.

I send my condolences and prayers to the man’s family and to the victims. I was chilled to read about this crash since I filed a lawsuit several years ago against the large company responsible for the death of a man at almost that same location and went there several times to investigate the scene.

2. Last night in south Dallas, a pick up truck driver ran a light, crashed into a SUV making a left turn at an intersection, and took the lives of a mother and her 6-year-old son. The young man driving the truck was DWI. He faces intoxication manslaughter charges.

3. Earlier yesterday a traffic wreck in south Grand Prairie caused another fatality when a driver lost control of his car on a wet road and collided head-on onto an oncoming car.

4. On Sunday two people lost their lives in a Glen Rose crash.

5. And I am helping the family of a woman who was killed in Dallas several weeks ago and two other people who were injured, one seriously. A man who was DWI — at only 4:00 in the afternoon — crashed into the three women as they were getting out of their car. The drunk fled the scene. Fortunately he was apprehended and is in the Dallas County jail. Since he only has the standard liability policy and there is only a standard underinsured policy, I am representing the family and victims at no charge. I hope that he is given a long prison sentence.

Updated Friday:

6. Yesterday afternoon, two young men died in Dallas when one of them was drag racing with another car and lost control, causing him to hit a guard rail and bounce off into oncoming traffic.

7. And last light a violent crash on I-20 in Arlington was caused by an intoxicated driver who ran off the road and hit two people — a young woman and her father who had come to rescue her — who were standing outside her car. They and another person inside the car lost their lives. The cars exploded and a fire storm erupted that could have caused more deaths. As if this tragedy were not devastating enough, a police officer rushing to the scene was involved in a collision and seriously injured.

8. Today a Grand Prairie Police officer was standing outside of his patrol vehicle with his radar gun out when he was tragically struck and killed by a 17-year-old kid racing a sports car on the George Bush Turnpike in broad daylight.

What in the world is going on out there? The wrongful death count on DFW roads is out of control.

May 23, 2019

Two More Ways Car Wreck Lawyer Can Help You

by William K. Berenson

The average settlement of a car accident in Texas was about $15,000 a few years ago. That may seem like a lot of money. But on the other hand, if may be far less than the case value. If you have been in a car wreck, how do you know what your auto accident case is worth? How do you know if you should file a lawsuit to get the compensation you deserve?

The only way to know is to have a good car accident attorney on your side. When you are facing the pain and stress of being injured on top of mounting medical bills and lost income, it may be tempting to take whatever amount the adjuster offers. He or she is counting on that. It’s a mistake to try to negotiate the case yourself. You can cost yourself a lot of money. An experienced attorney can protect you.

1. Settling versus litigating

May 21, 2019

How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer Charge?

by William K. Berenson

If someone runs a light and crashes into you, you are not going to want to pay thousands of dollars up front to hire a lawyer to recover your damages. But there is good news: a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer can recover your medical bills, lost wages, and other items without you paying any money down. Some people think it is a better idea if they try to handle all of the legal details on their own. This is usually a big mistake. This post will explain why and answer these questions:

How much does a car accident lawyer charge;
How he can make you substantially more money than you can on your own

May 17, 2019

Uber and Lyft Accidents in North Texas On the Rise

by William K. Berenson

Ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft are very popular in the fast-growing Dallas-Fort Worth area. But as more people are relying on them to get around, often when they have been out drinking, more of them are getting hurt in Uber and Lyft accidents when bad drivers cause crashes. Or they may be in the back seat when the vehicle is crashed into by another person who may not have any liability insurance or not enough coverage.

For example, early on Sunday morning a Lyft driver hit an Arlington bicycle officer near AT&T Stadium. The officer was on a marked bike with lights on a well lit street but the Lyft driver hit-and-ran.

And earlier this year, a woman received a multi-million dollar verdict in Dallas due to a defective seat belt design, but her permanent-paralysis-causing crash happened when her Uber driver ran a red light.

Your Uber and Lyft accident can cause you extensive damages

Just like with other auto accident injuries, the injuries you suffer due to a negligent Uber or Lyft driver have the potential to be very serious and even permanent. They can lead to surgeries that are caused by

Spinal cord damage,
Traumatic brain injuries,
Neck and back injuries, and
Broken bones

May 13, 2019

Why Are DFW Interstates So Dangerous?

by William K. Berenson

This weekend’s fatal crashes on I-35 show the need for increased safety measures

North Texas highways are unfortunately the scene of many serious injury and fatal car and truck crashes. Just in the past two days, a tragic Fort Worth accident took the life of a woman on I-35 near Rosedale Street on Friday night. And last night, a Dallas crash sadly took the life of a woman who was not able to avoid hitting a disabled SUV on I-35 near Medical District Drive north of downtown. This weekend reinforced why drivers should try to avoid driving on interstates if possible, especially at night.

Since all of our local highways are more jammed than ever with cars, trucks and 18-wheelers due to our region’s explosive growth, the only possible answer for why I-35 is so dangerous is increased trade due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As a result, we have more and more commercial trucks driving up and down the the highway to deliver goods from Mexico. And we have more trucks because of increased deliveries from purchases from Amazon and other online merchants. Plus it seems that I-35 is always under construction, at least here in Fort Worth where we have been in the midst of a frustrating widening for the past five years.

Adding to these perils, tractor trailers and other large commercial trucks drive with relative impunity. We see them tailgating and trying to run drivers off the road, speeding, failing to stay in their lanes – presumably because the driver is texting while driving or at least using his cell phone in violation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations – and driving while being exhausted. You rarely seem them pulled over for doing this. I call on Texas law enforcement to increase the number of patrol officers and other traffic safety techniques to make truck drivers obey traffic laws.

I also urge our state legislators to fix these problems. The Texas Tribune described several proposed laws that would help remedy this embarrassing title. None of these bills is apparently going to pass in the legislature days from concluding its biennial session.

Dallas interstates are especially dangerous and lead to far too many wrongful deaths. Most were listed in the top 100 deadliest highways list, with I-35 being one of the highest in the country at #13 and I-45 right behind it at #14.

May 6, 2019

Red Light Cameras Legal: Texas Supreme Court

by William K. Berenson

In an unanimous decision in Garcia v. City of Willis #17-0713, the high court dismissed a lawsuit Friday that would have eliminated the widely despised red light cameras in Texas. The plaintiff had filed a class action lawsuit to declare they were unconstitutional and sought to obtain a refund of the millions of dollars of fines Texas motorists have paid.

red-light-camera-sign

On procedural grounds, the Supreme Court found the plaintiff lacked standing, chose to pay his fine and avoid the required administrative hearing, and governmental immunity barred the reimbursement claim.

The decision follows other attempts to outlaw the cameras. For example, in February the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago called a similar argument “a dud” and noted that the advantages of the cameras outweighed other concerns.

May 3, 2019

Rear End Crashes in Texas

by William K. Berenson

Texas law regulating rear-end crashes

Today our Supreme Court issued a controversial decision that keeps red light cameras in place. However our state legislators continue to consider outlawing them. Sometimes rear-end collision are caused at intersections with those much hated cameras. But usually they happen when the following driver is not paying attention — probably because he or she is driving while distracted by their cell phone. In rear-end crashes, the law has a particular way of determining who was at fault and liable for the damages other people suffer. Anyone who tells you that the rear driver is always at fault or that a lead driver who brakes suddenly cannot ever recover for their injuries is wrong. To make sure you don’t get caught in these or other potential traps, you need the services of a good Fort Worth accident lawyer.

In Texas, every driver has a legal obligation to engage in ordinary care while behind the wheel. But to complicate this scenario, Texas law also observes what is known as the comparative negligence rule for determining each party’s culpability. What this means is that if the jury (or insurance company adjuster) decides that the other driver was more than 50% responsible for the car accident that injured you, then you can recover your damages. However that amount will be reduced by the percentage amount that the jury (or company) decides reflects your level of blame. That makes sense: a person should not be able to cause a crash and collect money. So a case can be allocated 100% to 0%, the other way around, or somewhere in between.

I see this all the time. This photo is from a routine case I recently settled where my clients were parked in front of a school waiting to pick up their children in Fort Worth when the SUV rear-ended them. That driver was (you guessed it) on her cell phone. In a school zone where cell phone use is prohibited.

On the other hand, if the lead car stops very abruptly because he mistakenly thought the light had turned or was turning yellow — perhaps due to a fear of getting a ticket a one of those red-light camera intersections — and you crash into him from the rear, then you may have a winning argument that the driver in front of you was liable. Unless you were also trying to run the light! I see that a lot too.

Deciding factors include proof of the following:

Following distance;
Speed;
Braking;
Rear driver’s attentiveness/distraction;
Road conditions;
Other vehicles;
Weather/lighting;
Aggressive driving/road rage; and
Alcohol/drug use. Continue reading

April 19, 2019

Texas Road Rage: Wild West on Wheels?

by William K. Berenson

We usually meet the friendliest people in Texas — but that can change at the drop of a ~~hat~~ gas pedal. Texas has almost the second highest number of these terrifying crashes in the country. This is a huge problem that sadly take the lives of over 1,500 people each year.

These are some of the latest horrific road rage incidents in Texas:

gunfighter-wild-west

In Houston two days ago, a female driver chased a woman riding a motorcycle and killed her;