According to the Foundation for Traffic Safety (FTS), an estimated 50,000 car accidents, resulting in over 10,000 injuries and approximately 125 fatalities, occur each year directly due to road debris. Debris in the road can cause or contribute to deadly accidents. Under the fault-based insurance system in Texas, an injury victim has the burden of proving the at-fault party’s liability for their damages to recover compensation.
While typically we think of another driver as the liable party in a La Porte car accident claim, it’s important to know your legal rights and options when road debris caused or contributed to your car accident in Texas.
What are the Most Common Causes of Dangerous Road Debris?
Today’s Texans lead active, productive lives, leading to congested roadways and an ongoing need for expanded traffic infrastructure. This means common road construction, expansion, and maintenance projects on both urban and rural routes in Texas.
Road planners and construction crews have a legal obligation to carry out their projects as safely as possible, including protecting drivers from dangerous construction debris in active work zones and performing careful cleanups. Additionally, the thriving commercial freight industry and other causes of road debris contribute to traffic hazards. The most common types of road debris in Texas include the following:
- Construction debris, such as rocks, gravel, dirt, broken concrete, trash, nails, bolts, broken glass, rebar, tools, equipment, and forgotten or misplaced barrels or traffic cones
- Loose gravel
- Tire shreds
- Dropped freight, lumbar, or cargo from unsecured loads
- Broken vehicle parts
- Dumped trash or litter
- Dumped or dropped furniture
- Uncleared storm debris, such as limbs, branches, and downed trees
- Animal carcasses
Grass clippings from roadside mowing also pose a serious safety hazard to motorcyclists and bicyclists, and may also cause a car to lose traction if the clippings are wet.
What Types of Accidents are Caused by Road Debris?
When hazards aren’t promptly cleared or otherwise addressed by road maintenance agencies, the result can be a serious accident. Common types of traffic accidents caused by road debris in Texas include the following:
- Collisions between vehicles caused by one or both drivers swerving to avoid debris
- Collisions with obstacles
- Roadway departure accidents, which happen when a driver swerves off the road to avoid debris
- Truck accidents
- Rollover accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents caused by a driver swerving, sliding, or spinning out of control due to hitting road debris and striking a pedestrian
Multi-car pileups also sometimes result from road debris accidents that occur in fast-moving traffic.
Proving Liability for Road Debris Accidents In Texas
After a car accident, the insurance companies of the involved drivers investigate the accident to determine the cause of the accident and each driver’s portion of fault. Because the insurance company’s goal is to protect their profits by minimizing their policyholders’ liability, a car or trucking accident attorney in La Porte protects their client’s best interest by examining all aspects of the accident and proving the at-fault party’s liability. I
f dangerous road debris caused or contributed to the accident, the attorney must document evidence showing the following:
- The at-fault party (such as a road maintenance, roadway planning, or construction agency, or a negligent trucking company) owed a legal duty of reasonable care to the injury victim
- They breached this duty through an act of negligence
- The breach of duty directly caused or contributed to the accident and injury
- The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury
The investigation requires interviewing eyewitnesses, examining the police report, scrutinizing any available photos or videos, and consulting with accident reconstruction specialists.
A proven La Porte personal injury lawyer safeguards the best interests of the injury victim throughout the process.