What is Considered Reckless Driving in Texas?

Vehicle accidents occur all the time in Texas, and there are many different causes of these accidents. In many cases, a simple driver error can lead to a crash. However, there are times when drivers are considered reckless. Texas law has actually defined “reckless driving.” We want to take some time here to discuss how reckless driving is defined as well as the dangers, propensity to increase car accidents and penalties associated with this type of driving behavior.

Defining Reckless Driving in Texas

Texas law provides a vague definition of what is considered to be reckless driving in the state. When we turn to Texas Transportation Code § 545.401, we can see that the law specifically says that “A person commits an offense if the person drives a vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.”When we look at this definition, we can see how it can be broadly applied by law enforcement officials when they seek to cite someone for a driving offense. There are various types of driving behavior that is often considered “reckless,” and this can include the following:

• Speeding

• Driving while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs

• Texting while driving (or other distracted driving behaviors)

• Passing a stopped school bus

• Running stop signs or red lights

• Failing to yield the right of way

• Racing with other vehicles

• Evading law enforcement

What Penalties Are Associated with a Reckless Driver?

When a person violates the reckless driving laws in Texas, this will be considered a misdemeanor offense. Those convicted of reckless driving may face the following punishments:

• A fine of up to $200

• Up to 30 days in county jail

• Or both penalties

Additionally, a person convicted of a misdemeanor offense in Texas will have a permanent mark on their criminal record. This could affect their ability to gain employment, find suitable housing, and even attend school. A misdemeanor driving offense will particularly affect any job that may require a person to regularly operate a vehicle.

How Can Reckless Driving Impact a Personal Injury or Auto Accident Case?

A reckless driving offense could have a significant impact on a personal injury lawsuit. In general, any person injured in an auto accident will need to prove the liability of the other party in order to recover compensation. Determining liability can be difficult, but that is not necessarily the case if the other driver is cited for reckless driving.  If a person sustains an injury in an accident caused by someone cited for reckless driving, this could be used against the at-fault driver to prove liability. In these cases, negligence per se will apply to cases where a person’s violation of law caused the injury.Negligence per se applies to reckless driving cases, so an injury victim will not have to worry about proving every single element of negligence. In these cases, they will only need to prove the following in order to recover compensation:

• That the defendant violated the law (reckless driving citation)

• That the intent of the law question prevent injuries that ended up occurring anyway

• The injury victim is within a class of people that the law was intended to protect

Those injured due to the actions of a reckless driver may be entitled to various types of compensation. This can include coverage of their medical bills, lost income, property damage expenses, pain and suffering damages, general out-of-pocket expenses, and more.

Does Medicare Cover Car Accident Injuries?

Car accidents often leave passengers and drivers with injuries that require medical care. It is not uncommon to encounter car accidents in and around our area. During the latest reporting gear in Texas, there were approximately 250,000 people injured and 3,639 fatalities caused by car accidents, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. One of the most common questions asked following these incidents is whether or not Medicare or Medicaid can be used to pay for medical bills.

How does this coverage work?

In most cases, car accident settlements are handled through the auto insurance carriers of the parties involved in the accident. However, auto insurance carriers can be notoriously difficult to deal with, even if you were not at fault for the car accident. It may take some time for the insurance carrier to make a settlement offer on an insurance claim, and the initial settlement may be entirely too low to accept.Unfortunately, a delay in a car accident insurance settlement is not going to stop medical bills from coming in. Victims who have been harmed in a car accident need a way to pay for their medical treatment in the interim before a final settlement.A Medicare recipient should speak to a lawyer to handle all interactions with a Medicare Coordination of Benefits (BOC) contractor. These interactions usually include written correspondence about the accident as well as all the medical care you have received related to the accident injuries. An attorney will ensure that all of this correspondence and communication is conducted in an appropriate manner to ensure you receive the compensation you are entitled to.

Paying back Medicare

After you report your accident to Medicare, they will continue to monitor your case. That is because you will still be likely to receive an insurance settlement for your claim. If you have to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party in the accident, you may receive an out-of-court settlement or a jury verdict for your injuries and other damages.Medicare will expect reimbursement for what they have already paid you for your accident injuries once you receive a settlement or jury verdict. The COB working with your case will regularly contact you or your attorney for information about the progress of your claim. When your case is settled, your lawyer will need to notify the COB contractor to let them know about the settlement and begin the process of reimbursing Medicare.Again, you should have a Texas car accident attorney helping you with this because dealing with the COB contractor can be difficult. The COB contractor will usually send a statement detailing all of the medical bills that Medicare has paid when they learn you have received a settlement for your case. Your personal injury lawyer will want to ensure that this information is correct, and they will negotiate with Medicare to ensure that you are not going to reimburse more money than you should.Medicare will place a lien on your settlement, which means that they have the right to recover the portion of the money that they spent on your medical expenses. If there is a dispute between how much Medicare says they paid and what your records indicate or spent on medical costs, the settlement money could be held until the issue is resolved.

What Is The Minimum Car Insurance Required In Texas?

Getting into a car accident can be a scary and devastating experience. Not only do many car accident victims have injuries to deal with, but they also need to find a way to secure compensation for medical bills, lost income, and property damage. However, securing this compensation is not always easy. Dealing with insurance carriers can be notoriously difficult, and the insurance minimums required for Texas are relatively low.

What is the minimum required for car insurance in Texas?

In Texas, drivers are required to maintain certain insurance requirements. By law, drivers in Texas must maintain:

• Bodily Injury Liability: $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident
• Property Damage Liability: $25,000

In Texas, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage are not required, though drivers must reject these policies at the time they sign up for coverage with their insurance carrier.

Is this coverage enough for a car accident?

When we look at these minimums, it is easy to see that the coverage limits could be exhausted quickly. Perhaps for damage to a vehicle and other property damage the $25,000 in property damage liability will be enough to pay for damage to one vehicle, but what happens when another vehicle is involved?For injuries, the $30,000 per person for bodily liability injury coverage may be sufficient for minor injuries, but a serious injury will result in expenses rising far above that amount. Consider that the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Institute says that first-year medical costs for a spinal cord injury can range from $359,000 to more than $1.1 million.

The insurance carrier will only pay up to the limits

You need to understand that the insurance carriers involved will only pay up to the limits of the policyholder’s policy. If you are injured due to another person’s negligent actions and file a claim with their insurer, you will be at the mercy of their policy limits. For example, if you incur $40,000 in medical bills but the person who caused your car accident only carrier the minimum coverage required in Texas, then you will only be awarded $30,000 in a settlement.Anything over that amount will need to be recovered through a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver, which could result in a drawn-out court battle.

What are the most common injuries in Texas car accidents?

Most injuries that result from car accidents in Texas are relatively minor. However, that does not mean that they should not be taken seriously. Even a minor injury can result in major medical bills. When you factor in the cost of an emergency medical transport and a few X-rays, medical costs can easily rise into the thousands of dollars.Now consider the following more serious injuries that commonly occur in a Texas car collision:

• Spinal cord injuries
• Whiplash injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Concussions
• Broken and dislocated bones
• Severe lacerations
• Internal organ damage
• Internal bleeding

Each of these injuries requires not only emergency medical care, but often long-term recovery efforts such as surgery, physical therapy, and medications. These costs can quickly rise above the insurance minimums.

Should there be higher minimums for Texas car insurance?

It can be argued that there should be higher car insurance minimums in Texas. Many states do have higher limits. Other states also often require uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. In general, motorists should consider higher limits to ensure they are protected in the event a car accident occurs on the roadway.

Is It Against The Law To Talk On Your Cell Phone While Driving In Texas?

Distracted driving is incredibly dangerous for everybody on the roadway. As long as there have been vehicles, distracted driving has been a problem. However, as cell phones become more and more a part of our lives, they also become more of a danger on the roadway. One of the most commonly asked questions is – Is it illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in Texas?

What Texas law says about talking on the phone while driving

According to state government statistics, one out of every five crashes involves driver distraction. Due to the increase in distracted driving caused by phones, in 2017, the Texas legislature passed a statewide ban on using any wireless communication device from being used for electronic messaging while operating a motor vehicle.However, the law does not prohibit talking on a cell phone while driving in Texas. While the state legislature has debated on mandating the use of hands-free devices when talking on the phone and driving in the state, they have not yet passed any laws pertaining to that issue. The only groups of people that are prohibited entirely from using wireless communication devices while driving are:

• drivers with learner’s permits
• drivers under the age of 18
• school bus operators if children are present
• any driver operating in school zones

The 2017 law passed in Texas focused on prohibiting drivers from sending or receiving text messages, as well as reading or writing emails, while driving their vehicles. This is obviously a good step to take in order to curb distracted driving in the state, but does this law go far enough?

Texas distracted driving statistics

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were approximately 250,000 people injured and 3,639 fatalities due to traffic accidents during the latest reporting year in the state. However, the Texas DOT also breaks down known distracted driver crashes. During that same reporting year, there were 96,151 total distraction driving car crashes. Out of these incidents, there were:

• 398 fatalities
• 2,360 suspected serious injuries
• 12,954 non-incapacitating injuries
• 29,253 possible injuries

Injuries caused by distracted driving crashes are often severe. It is not uncommon for the following to occur due to a distracted driving incident:

• Traumatic brain injuries/head injuries
• Spinal cord injuries/paralysis
• Internal organ damage/internal bleeding
• Broken or dislocated bones
• Severe lacerations or amputations

Curbing distracted driving

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately nine people are killed and more than 1,000 are injured each day due to distracted driving incidents. The CDC defines distracted driving is anything that takes a person's attention away from operating the vehicle.According to the CDC, sending or receiving a text message regularly causes the person to take their eyes off the road for five seconds. When driving at 55 mph, that is enough time for the driver to cover the length of a football field. How many other vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians are put into danger during those five seconds the driver is not watching the roadway? Worse, with hundreds of vehicles on the roadway, how many other drivers are operating while distracted.Distracted driving laws are continually changing as state and local governments work to determine the best way to prevent unnecessary deaths on the roadway.

How Does Insurance Determine Who's At Fault In A Car Accident?

Nobody wants to be involved in a car accident, but the reality is that these incidents happen all the time. In Texas, there were more than 540,000 total car accidents during the latest reporting year, according to the state Department of Transportation. These crashes led to more than 250,000 injuries and 3,639 total fatalities. In the aftermath of a car accident, victims will turn to their insurance carriers to recover compensation for injuries and property damage. However, many people wonder how an insurance carrier determines who was at fault for the car accident.

What information do insurance carriers use?

In the aftermath of a car accident in Texas, everyone involved will make claims to their insurance carrier. They will relate what happened in the incident, and their insurance carrier will begin the investigation. After a car accident, it is important to determine who is at fault because the at-fault driver’s insurance carrier will be on the line for property damage and injury expenses.You can be sure every insurance carrier involved will do what they can to limit the amount they pay in a settlement. They will conduct a thorough investigation of all of the evidence in order to determine liability. Insurance carriers will:

• gather all evidence from the scene of the crash, including police reports, video and photo surveillance, eyewitness statements, anymore.
• speak to every party involved in the incident to get their version of events.
• closely scrutinize every medical record related to the incident.
• thoroughly review any estimates of property damage.

Texas comparative negligence laws

In many cases, more than one driver is at fault for a car accident. This does not mean that nobody will receive compensation. Texas operates under what is called a modified comparative negligence system. This means that any party who is less than 51% at fault in a crash is entitled to recover compensation for damages. However, the amount of compensation a person receives will be reduced based on their percentage of fault for the accident.For example, if an insurance carrier awards $10,000 in damages to a car accident victim but has determined that the person was 10% responsible for the crash, the victim will only receive $9,000 in total compensation.Comparative negligence laws often pit insurance carriers against one another and an attempt to place the blame away from their respective policyholders. A skilled Texas car accident attorney is often required to navigate these insurance claims.

What type of compensation is available?

There are various types of compensation available to victims of car accidents. While no two accidents are the same, it is not uncommon for the following types of compensation to be awarded after a crash:

• coverage of all medical bills related to the incident
• compensation for lost wages and benefits if a person cannot work while they recover
• compensation for pain and suffering damages that resulted from the injuries

In cases where the at-fault driver was grossly negligent or intentionally caused a motor vehicle accident, punitive damages may be awarded in order to punish the person responsible and to prevent them from operating in such a manner in the future.The total amount of compensation awarded in a car accident case will vary depending on several factors related to the accident, such as the severity of the injuries, the total amount of property damage, how much pain and suffering a victim endures, and more.