If you get involved in a rollover accident in San Antonio, you could suffer serious injuries and extensive property damage. In the worst-case scenarios, rollovers can be deadly. Understanding your legal rights as a victim of a rollover accident or the family member of a victim can help you seek fair compensation for your losses.
What Is a Rollover Accident?
A rollover accident occurs when a motor vehicle tips over onto its side or rolls onto its roof during a single-vehicle or multi-vehicle collision. Rollover accidents can be particularly dangerous due to the fact that the roof of a vehicle is not designed to withstand the force of an impact.
The safety features of a vehicle do not work as effectively in a rollover crash. Victims may be ejected from the car, crushed or caught beneath the vehicle. Common injuries include broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, internal injuries and losses of limb.
What Causes Rollover Car Accidents?
Rollover accidents in San Antonio can occur in many different circumstances. It could be a single-vehicle crash, where something makes the driver lose control of the car and veer off the road. It could also be a multi-car accident, where the forces of the collision turn or flip a car over.
Common causes of rollover accidents include:
- Vehicle design defects: cars with high centers of gravity, such as SUVs, are more likely to roll over.
- Driver negligence: mistakes such as speeding, making sudden maneuvers, overcorrecting, distracted driving and taking corners too quickly can cause rollovers.
- Overloaded or imbalanced loads: a large truck that is not loaded with cargo correctly could become off-balance and tip over. Speak with an experienced San Antonio truck accident lawyer for legal guidance.
- Road defects: hazards such as potholes can cause a vehicle to “trip,” which can result in a tire blowout and rollover accident.
Other common elements involved in rollover accidents in Texas are improper vehicle maintenance, auto part defects, broken traffic laws, inclement weather and side-impact accidents.
Liability for a San Antonio Rollover Accident
Preventing a rollover accident is possible with improvements in vehicle, road and driver safety. Identifying who is liable, or financially responsible, for a rollover accident in San Antonio takes determining the cause of the crash. This is because under Texas’s fault-based law, the person or party at fault for a motor vehicle accident is responsible for paying for related damage.
An investigation of the rollover accident will be conducted to determine its main cause and any contributing factors. From there, one or more defendants will be named. These are the parties against whom an insurance claim can be brought. Common examples of liable parties are careless and reckless drivers, defective vehicle part manufacturers, and government agencies for road defects.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a rollover car accident, it can benefit you to hire a car accident attorney in San Antonio to represent you during the claims process. You can count on your attorney to investigate your rollover crash, determine the liable parties and file a claim on your behalf.
While a car insurance company may try to convince you to settle for as little as possible to save itself money, your attorney will negotiate for maximum compensation for your past and future losses. Learn more about how a San Antonio injury lawyer can help you after a rollover crash during a free consultation at Hill Law Firm. Contact us today.