Motor vehicle accidents occur everyday, some resulting in serious injuries or fatalities. If you are a victim of a motor vehicle accident, you may be entitled to fair compensation from the negligent party, who should be held accountable for your loss. However, getting them to pay can be infuriating. A top-notch and experienced San Antonio car accident lawyer can help reduce your stress, so you can focus on healing.

Common Types of San Antonio Motor Vehicle Accidents

San Antonio is a bustling city. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to vehicle crashes. Motor vehicles may include the following:

• Bicycles
• Motorcycles
• Cars
• Trucks
• Trains
• Buses
• Commercial vehicles (such as taxis)
• Ride-sharing vehicles, such as Uber and Lyft cars
• Pedestrians

Depending on which types of vehicles are involved in an accident, you might have different legal claims.

What Causes Car Accidents in San Antonio?

Most car accident claims involve negligence. To establish negligence, you must have evidence that:

• The driver owed you a duty of care to operate his or her vehicle in a reasonably safe manner
• He or she violated this duty of care, causing a collision
• You suffered damages because of the violation.

Motor vehicle accidents can involve multiple cars, a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, or just one motor vehicle.

Reasons for the accidents can also vary. Our personal injury lawyers in San Antonio have frequently seen the following causes of motor vehicle accidents:

• Aggressive or reckless driving
• Inexperienced driving
• Distraction, including texting or speaking on a cell phone
• Violation of traffic laws (such as speeding, tailgating, failure to yield or stop, or unsafe lane change)
• Driving while intoxicated (alcohol or drugs)
• Unsafe road and/or weather conditions
• Defective or malfunctioned vehicle parts
• Driver fatigue and illness
• Improper maintenance of a vehicle’s core systems, such as tires and brakes

At Brylak Law, we carefully investigate our clients’ accident claims, searching for the root causes of their claims, documenting their injuries, and advocating on their behalf. If you have questions about a San Antonio motor vehicle wreck, contact one of our skilled car accident lawyers today.

What Steps Should I Take After an Accident?

If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, you should take the following steps:

• Exchange insurance information.
• Take photographs of all vehicles involved in the accident, the accident scene, tire marks (if possible), any damaged property, and your injuries.
• Obtain all witnesses’ names and contact information.
• Contact the police. They will conduct an investigation and generate a police or accident report summarizing their investigation and findings, indicating any issued citations, and containing a diagram of the accident.
• Report your injuries and your symptoms to the police officer, which will be included in the report.
• Seek medical attention for your injuries, even if symptoms manifest later. Provide your physician with the accident details and an explanation of your injuries.
• If you suspect a defective tire, airbag, or other car part caused the accident, do not dispose of the items.

Do NOT speak to anyone, including the other party’s insurance adjuster, regarding the accident except the police, your treating physicians, and your personal injury lawyers in San Antonio.

While it’s important to document the accident scene, your health and safety should be your primary concerns immediately after an accident. You should never put yourself in harm’s way because you want to build a liability case against a negligent driver. Moreover, you should always seek immediate medical attention for your injuries. Immediate medical treatment can help you recover more quickly — and the doctor’s notes will serve as valuable evidence in a lawsuit.

You Need to Act Quickly

You also need to act quickly after an accident. In Texas, you typically have two years from the date of your accident to file a lawsuit against a negligent party. If you miss this deadline, you’ll automatically lose your right to compensation. Because it takes time to properly investigate a car crash, you should contact an experienced car accident lawyer as quickly as possible. The longer you wait, the more difficult it might be to find a skilled attorney — and you also might lose valuable evidence as time passes and memories fade.

Can Car Accident Injuries Take Time to Develop?

Sometimes, you’ll understand the severity of your injuries immediately. However, a car accident lawyer understands that the adrenaline rush and chaos after a serious collision can sometimes mask your injuries. Many soft tissue and nerve-related injuries also take time to develop.

Common car accident injuries include:

• Broken bones
• Burns, lacerations, and contusions (bruises)
• Depression and anxiety
• Herniated discs and other back injuries
• Muscle strains and sprains
• Organ damage
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Spinal cord and nerve-related injuries, including paralysis
• Traumatic brain injuries and concussions
• Whiplash

While most car accident injuries are relatively minor, they can be life-changing or fatal.

If you didn’t report injuries at the time of the accident, only to find yourself struggling with serious pain a few days later, don’t panic. Instead, seek medical treatment as quickly as possible. When you meet with a doctor, make sure you give him or her an accurate explanation of your accident and your developing symptoms. This will help your physicians identify your injuries and document their relationship to the car crash.

Who Is Financially Responsible for My Injuries?

After a car accident, you might have a legal claim against a negligent driver. However, under certain circumstances, you could have additional claims against your personal insurance policies, the employer of a negligent driver, and other parties.

When you work with an experienced car accident lawyer, one of the first things you will do is identify all of the insurance policies involved in your claim. This might include:

Liability Insurance

All drivers should carry liability insurance, which covers bodily injuries and property damage they cause during an accident. In Texas, you must carry minimum coverage of $30,000 for each injured person, up to $60,000 per accident. However, many responsible drivers carry much larger policies.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance

If you have PIP coverage, this policy should cover your medical bills and lost income, regardless of who was at fault for the crash.

Uninsured Motorist (UI/UM) Coverage

Unfortunately, many San Antonio drivers ignore our state’s auto insurance laws and do not purchase liability coverage. UI/UIM is an insurance policy that covers your losses when an at-fault driver has insufficient insurance coverage

Commercial Liability Insurance

Sometimes a company is at fault for your injuries. This can occur if the driver was in the course of his or her employment, a bar or restaurant that knowingly over-served a drunk driver, or a manufacturer or retailer made or sold a defective product that caused your accident.

However, it’s important to remember that insurance companies are for-profit businesses. If there is any reason that the insurance companies can use to deny your claim, they will. For this reason, it’s always best to be prepared and work with an experienced car accident lawyer. A car accident lawyer can help you prepare your claims, build your evidence, and fight back the insurance company’s arguments.

How Much Is My Motor Vehicle Case Worth?

Every car accident claim is different. Your case’s worth will depend on your unique circumstances, the extent of your injuries, and the types of insurance that are involved. However, you might receive compensation for your:

• Medical bills, including ambulance and medication expenses
• Lost income
• Vehicle and property damage
• Home modifications (such as ramps)
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium
• Funeral and burial costs
• Other economic and non-economic damages
• Punitive damages (damages that punish a defendant for grossly negligent or malicious acts)

Unfortunately, insurance companies frequently offer low-ball settlement offers to accident victims — especially if they are unrepresented. A car accident lawyer can help you understand and calculate your damages — as well as negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance companies.

Contact the Personal Injury Lawyers in San Antonio

Our skilled and knowledgeable lawyers can help you with the following:

• Review and investigate your claim, including questioning witnesses, obtaining the police report, your medical records, and other necessary evidence.
• Analyze your case to determine the best strategy to obtain the compensation you deserve
• Negotiate or litigate your case

Our San Antonio Car Accident Lawyer provides knowledgeable representation for accident victims. You have two years from the date of the accident to file suit, so contact San Antonio car accident attorneys by calling Brylak Law today.