Texas and Trucks

Texas has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in trucking injuries and deaths. In 2007, there were 421 fatal crashes in Texas, resulting in 493 deaths, and 6,955 injury crashes, resulting in 10,257 injuries. Texas’ 493 deaths in truck wrecks account for more than 10% of the fatalities suffered in truck wrecks in the entire country in 2007 and are more than 35% higher than the number of deaths from truck wrecks reported by the state that had the next highest fatality rate from truck crashes – California.

In addition to the increased severity of injury when a vehicle weighing tens of thousands of pounds collides with a vehicle weighing only a few thousand pounds, truck wrecks differ from car wrecks in several other significant respects. Trucking companies and truckers are controlled by an extensive framework of federal and state regulations and, as a general rule, trucking companies and truckers are in violation of these regulations every day. Truck wreck cases also require much more investigation into the pre-wreck conduct of both the truck driver and the trucking company, the driver’s training, and the condition of the vehicle than would ordinarily be involved in a routine car wreck case. In addition, there are critical, time-sensitive aspects to investigation and discovery in truck crash cases that require prompt attention and thorough investigation.

To learn more about this topic, download my whitepaper, “Handling the Commercial Truck Crash Case,”  which I presented at the August 2009 Car Crash Seminar sponsored by The University of Texas School of Law.