What to Do After an 18-Wheeler Accident in Texas

June 24, 2021 by Greg Baumgartner

The highways and interstates of Texas are often filled with big trucks. While those 18-wheelers serve a vital service but pose a substantial danger. Each year, motor vehicle crashes, including collisions with big rigs, are the first or second leading cause of death in every major industry group. Knowing what to do after a semi-truck accident is something to know.

An estimated one in three truck drivers has experienced a severe truck crash at some point during their careers. In addition, the amount of cargo on the roads continues to go up–even during a driver shortage that has existing truck drivers pushing to reach more miles than ever–more drivers than ever face hazards when they meet trucks on the roads. There are many causes of truck accidents.

Big trucks are much larger than the average passenger vehicle. Fully loaded, they may weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. Compared to the average 4,094-pound weight of a passenger vehicle, that mass can make a huge difference in a crash.

Semi-truck drivers receive special training to help them learn how to navigate safely. But they may struggle with exhaustion after long hours on the road, higher rates of distraction, or even a lack of the training needed to help them on the busy streets of Texas, especially during high-traffic times. Unfortunately, Houston truck crash lawyers see this all too regularly.

An 18-Wheeler Hit My Car- What Do I Do?

What are your options–and what should you do next after a truck accident?

Call 911 ASAP

As soon as you determine that no one in your vehicle is in any further immediate danger, call 911–even if you do not think anyone in the car has suffered substantial injuries. The chances are that a truck accident left you with severe damage to your vehicle, even if it did not cause immense harm to the passengers.

Calling 911 is the fastest way to summon local police to the scene of your truck accident. 911 operators will send out the nearest police officers and an ambulance if needed. Always call the police for any accidents involving commercial trucks. Police will usually investigate, which can help with your accident claims.

Look around you

In Texas, the law requires you to move damaged vehicles off the road if you can reasonably avoid traffic interference. Therefore, you may want to snap a couple of pictures of the positions of the vehicles to help serve as evidence before you move your vehicle. Before moving your car, however, you should make sure that:

•  Moving the vehicle will not cause injury to anyone else. For example, in a multi-car accident, you may want to ensure

  you will not inadvertently injure someone else as you move your vehicle out of the way. You should also check to ensure that no one, including the big truck driver, got thrown from their car

  before driving your vehicle.

• You can move your vehicle without worsening your injuries or putting someone else in danger. However, if you need to administer immediate first aid, including helping one of your passengers stop bleeding, you may need to wait to move your vehicle.

• Your vehicle has not suffered such severe damage that you cannot move it. Sometimes, your vehicle may suffer such severe crushing damage that you can no longer move it at all. If you try to restart your vehicle and nothing happens, it could indicate that type of severe damage, and you may want to wait instead of trying to move it immediately.

If you can move your vehicle to the side of the road, out of the traffic flow. Only in rare cases should you move your vehicle away from the accident scene, including issues in which you might feel unsafe at your current location.

Collect Evidence

Photo evidence can be a valuable tool that will help you seek compensation later if your personal injury claim must go to court. Look around your vehicle and at the driver of the truck. Take pictures of:

• The truck driver’s license, truck, and plates
• The damage to your vehicle
• The damage to the truck
• Any notable features of the accident scene, including tire marks, that could serve to indicate how the accident occurred.

You may also want contact information for witnesses who stop at the accident scene, as they can help establish what caused the accident.

Before exiting your vehicle, make sure you can do so safely. Heavy traffic may surround you in many cases, preventing you from getting out and moving around. If you get out of your vehicle, move well off the road.

Many people have sustained serious injuries on the side of the road while waiting for a tow truck or for the police to arrive. Safety is particularly vital during high-traffic times: for example, in Houston, you should be very careful exiting your car during rush hour since the area sees so much heavy traffic.

Get medical care when needed.

Go to the hospital or an urgent care center to evaluate a medical professional, even if you do not think that you suffered severe injuries.

Truck accidents often cause severe injuries due to the extreme force of the enormous vehicle striking your car. You may know immediately that you have sustained those injuries and that you need to seek medical attention as soon as possible, especially if you have clear signs of broken bones, back or neck injuries, or severe lacerations.

Other times, however, you may think you walked away from the truck accident with few ill effects. You may assume that you did not suffer severe injuries. You might be sore the next day, but you think you’ll be fine.

Unfortunately, in some cases, you may discover that you sustained more serious injuries than you initially thought. Many injuries may not show up immediately, especially with adrenaline from the accident masking many of your initial symptoms. You may, for example, sustain broken bones that you do not even recognize until the next day.

Symptoms of traumatic brain injury may also not show up immediately. For example, you may feel a little confused or disoriented in the immediate aftermath of the accident, but write it off as fading concerns from the accident.

Later, you may suffer from a headache, continuing disorientation, memory issues, and other potential problems that could leave you with much more serious long-term effects.

A medical professional can help identify those injuries and ensure you receive the treatment you need, increasing your odds of recovering fully.

Seeking medical attention immediately after your Texas truck accident also serves another vital purpose: those medical records will help show precisely when your injuries occurred.

If you fail to seek medical attention, the truck driver’s insurance company can try to prove that your injuries occurred at another time and that, therefore, the insurance company should not bear liability for your damages.

Conversely, medical records showing treatment immediately after the accident will establish precisely when your injuries occurred.

Notify your insurance company.

After a truck accident in Texas, you should talk to your insurance company as soon as possible, even if you know you did not cause the accident. Your insurance company can help you navigate your claim and give you a better idea of your rights in the aftermath of the accident.

Your insurance company may also provide personal injury protection, or PIP, insurance, immediately assisting in paying your medical bills. While Texas drivers do not legally have to carry PIP insurance, insurance companies that offer liability insurance must also offer PIP coverage to their clients.

PIP insurance may offer an average of $2,500 of medical coverage or coverage for your lost wages in the aftermath of the accident. By reporting the accident quickly to your insurance company, you will ensure that you receive your full PIP coverage.

Get in touch with a personal injury attorney.

Ideally, contacting the best truck accident lawyers before speaking with the truck driver’s insurance company would be best. Truck accidents often prove much more complex than other types of car accidents. The best time to hire a truck accident lawyer is right away.

Therefore, not only does the truck driver bear liability for an accident caused by his negligence, but you may find that other parties, including the trucking company or the company that loaded the truck, may also bear liability for the accident and your injuries.

A prominent truck accident attorney can aid in that investigation and ensure that you understand your rights fully. Whether the crash was a blind spot accident, a rear-end crash, a jackknife accident, or another, an investigation is usually needed.

The truck driver’s insurance company may try to get ahead of the situation and contact you shortly after the accident to discuss a settlement offer. However, this offer will often fail to reflect the compensation you deserve for your injuries.

In many cases, the insurance company will start with a lowball settlement offer, ultimately failing to provide you with the full compensation you deserve for your injuries.

The lowball offer is an adjuster tactic to reduce your expectations. Truck wreck cases involving severe injury are not quick, but exceptional results can be achieved with the right attorney.

An experienced tractor-trailer accident lawyer can review your right to compensation and give you a better idea of what you should expect as you move forward with your claim, including how to respond to the offer issued by the insurance company. When you may want to accept an 18-wheeler settlement offer, and when you should continue negotiating.

A Texas truck accident attorney can also help walk you through the claim process, including how long you should expect it to take to receive the compensation you deserve.

Read More: Truck Accident Settlement or Lawsuit- Which is Best?

Common Causes of Texas Truck Accidents

Truck accidents can occur for various reasons, and liability may depend on who contributed to the accident.

Not just the truck driver himself but also the trucking company, the team that manages the trucks, and even the company that loaded the vehicle.

Causes of truck accidents may include:

• Driver distraction. Eating or drinking in the vehicle or paying more attention to leisure activities than to the task of driving. As a result, many drivers struggle with increased distraction and even road haze after long hours on the road.
• Driver drunkenness. American truck drivers have a higher risk of drinking than truck drivers anywhere else in the world. Often, they turn to alcohol to cope with loneliness and isolation when they must spend long hours on the road, away from their families.
• Loading errors. A poorly loaded trailer may lead to a shifting or jackknife accident. On a flatbed, a shifting load may crush other vehicles.
• Poor weather conditions. Drivers may have more difficulty controlling their vehicles on wet or icy roads, resulting in serious accidents.
• Excessive hours on the road. Federal law mandates that truck drivers can spend only 11 hours out of each 14-hour shift on the street, after which they must spend at least eight hours away from the wheel before returning to the road. Unfortunately, some trucking companies may push their drivers to exceed those hours, especially if they have tight deadlines to meet.
• Blindspot collisions. Big trucks come with significant blind spots, making it very difficult for drivers to avoid accidents, especially in heavy traffic or while making a tight turn. Truck drivers may also struggle to see directly in front of their vehicles in areas where most drivers assume they can safely pull over.
• Other drivers were pulling over in front of the truck or failing to exercise adequate caution. Many drivers do not realize how much room big trucks need to maneuver on the road and may mistakenly pull over in front of them.
• Not allowing a safe distance between vehicles.

Do You Need a Texas Truck Accident Attorney?

Suppose you suffered serious injuries in a Texas truck accident. Learn how to hire the best truck accident lawyer to help you navigate your claim, from helping to go through the evidence to ensuring that you understand the full compensation you deserve.

Contact the personal injury attorneys in Houston at Baumgartner Law Firm today to learn more about your right to compensation after a truck accident.

For over three decades, we have won multi-million-dollar settlements for Texas families from collisions with big rigs!

Never a Charge for a Consultation After Being Hit By an 18-wheeler!

Baumgartner Law Firm

6711 Cypress Creek Pkwy, Houston, TX, 77069

(281) 587-1111

Truck Accident Resources:

What are the Most Common Mechanical Failure for Big Rigs?

Texas Trucking Accident Statistics

Accidents With Stalled or Parked Big Rigs

Truck Lane Restrictions in Texas

What are the Insurance Requirements For 18-Wheelers in Texas?