The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that well over 40,000 individuals in the United States die every year because of vehicle accidents.[i] In fact, for individuals in the US that are under 35 years of age, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death.

The Causes

The highest majority of vehicle accidents that happen every day are a result of driving behaviors that are completely irresponsible. This means that there are specific actions of the drivers that are causing damage and injury to others because of their lack of driving responsibly. It is often the result of driver fatigue, changing the radio station, not focusing directly ahead, distractions from passengers, talking or texting on mobile phones and rubbernecking while watching other accidents on the road.

Finding Fault through Negligence

It is often left up to the police officer at the scene of the accident to determine exactly which party is legally responsible, or at fault for creating the accident. However, this can often be a challenging problem that can only find a remedy through a court of law, through a process that involves a competent Dallas accident attorney. Determining negligence is essential to a successful lawsuit in finding a clear-cut solution as to who needs to pay restitution to the other involved parties.

Most states, including Texas, follow a system based on comparative negligence (allocating fault between all the involved parties). This is unlike a few states that follow a system based on contributory negligence (where a number of parties might have contributed to the cause of the accident).

The defense of a case can often times be challenging, especially when the allocation of fault is a complicated issue. At these times, it is important to hire a skillful Dallas car accident lawyer to handle the case in a court of law.