At the Law Offices of Stewart J. Guss, we love Island Time—and the city of Galveston. We have represented the rights of people who were hurt in accidents in the city for decades, and we regularly work with the clerks, support staff, and judges at the courthouses that sit on the island.
As a seaside community, Galveston has drawn tourists for many years to its wide variety of attractions, including Schlitterbahn Waterpark, Moody Gardens and Moody Mansion, and the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. Galveston is also widely renowned for its historic architecture, including in the Strand Historic District. One of the most important institutions in the city, and the entire state of Texas, is the University of Texas Medical School, which is the oldest in the state and boasts more than 3,000 students.
Due to Galveston’s location in a large and busy metropolitan area, especially one well-known for its traffic issues, you might find yourself the victim of a car accident while you are there. In fact, if you are reading this, you may have already gotten into an accident in Galveston and are currently dealing with the issues that invariably arise after a wreck.
You may be injured, you may have questions about “what to do next,” and you may not even know where to start. Please know that we offer a FREE consultation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so call us right now at 281-664-6500, or click HERE to send us a question or get more information. There is NO cost to get a free consultation right now. If you decide to hire us, you pay us nothing up front, and you will pay absolutely nothing at all unless and until we’ve won your case.
With more than 20 years of experience, and thousands of victories under our belts, our team of Galveston car accident attorneys will leave no stone unturned to get you the largest possible recovery for your injuries. Furthermore, we are one of the highest rated major personal injury law firms in the state, and we take pride in treating our clients like family, so contact us right now.
Galveston, Texas Car Accidents
The Houston area, with its ever-growing population and largely car-centric lifestyle, is a busy place when it comes to car accidents. According to the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s annual mobility report, the news is bad—both the vehicle crash rate and the overall number of vehicle crashes went up from 2015 to 2016. As the Houston area grows, it’s not unreasonable to expect that the raw number of crashes would keep pace with this growth, but the overall rate of crashes and fatalities is increasing as well. A few key figures from the report include:
- 713: Number of fatalities in 2016 in the Houston area (up 16 percent from 2015)
- 20,025: Number of serious injuries resulting from crashes (up 7 percent from 2015)
- 166,830: Total number of vehicle crashes in 2016 (up 8 percent from 2015)
As these figures make clear, the Houston area, including Galveston, is experiencing a disturbing increase in the number of car crashes and fatalities, and no one is immune from it. If you were injured by a car accident in the Galveston area, consult with a Galveston personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible to explore your options. For a free case evaluation to see if Texas law entitles you to compensation for your injuries, contact the lawyers of Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, at (281) 664-6500, or send us an email through our online contact form.
Common Types of Car Accidents
There are more car accident scenarios than we could possibly count, but a few that we tend to see over and over include:
- Rear-end collisions: Rear-end collisions are almost always the result of deceleration or stopping by a lead vehicle, which is then hit from behind by a following vehicle. Unfortunately, distracted driving is often the main culprit behind rear-end collisions, and the driver of the following car is almost always at fault.
- Side-impact collisions: Side-impact collisions occur when one car crashes perpendicularly into another car. This type of accident can do any level of damage, from scratching a bumper to completely caving in the car’s doors. Generally, passengers on the side of the vehicle that is hit suffer the most severe injuries.
- Head-on collisions: Head-on collisions are the most dreaded type of accident. They occur when the front end of a car hits another object, which is often another vehicle. Drivers and passengers in head-on collisions often suffer severe injuries, especially if one or both vehicles were traveling at a high rate of speed.
- Multi-vehicle collisions: A multi-vehicle collision (also known as a “pile-up”) occurs when at least three cars are involved in the same collision. They most often take place on busy roads, highways, and freeways in urban areas. Unfortunately, multi-vehicle automobile accidents are becoming common. As of 2015, they accounted for about 50 percent of all collisions when compared to single-vehicle accidents. Considering how much metal is involved in these types of accidents, they have the potential to turn deadly.
Tips for Avoiding Car Accidents
Although most drivers will get into an accident at some point in their lives, you can reduce these chances:
- Stay out of the fast lane: By using the outside lane on multilane roads, you give yourself more escape routes if a problem should arise that requires you to pull onto the shoulder. After all, most highway accidents occur in the left lane.
- Scan the area well ahead of you: Don’t just look at the car in front of you—watch the traffic in front of that car as well. This increases your chances of seeing a problem while still having enough time to react to it.
- Watch your blind spots: While your side mirrors and rearview mirrors do a pretty good job of showing you what’s behind you, don’t rely solely on them. Always make sure to physically look behind you when you change lanes to avoid hitting something that your mirrors left out.
- Judge other drivers by their cars’ conditions: If another driver’s car is in bad shape—exhibiting body damages or dirty windows—it might indicate an inattentive or careless driver. Stay well away from cars that display visible signs of poor driving habits.
The Most Common Car Accident Injuries
Most of the injuries that you could sustain in a car accident can be split into four major categories:
- Head injuries: Head injuries occur due to the often violent force involved in a car accident, which causes the head to whip around on the neck, possibly striking nearby objects. They are among the most severe car accident injuries due to the importance of the brain to the rest of the body. If your head injury involves brain damage, including Traumatic brain injury (TBI), you could face a life-threatening condition and a long road to recovery.
- Neck and back injuries: The sudden deceleration that often occurs during a car accident is hard on the neck, back, and spine. One of the most common neck injuries is whiplash, which occurs when a sudden back-and-forth movement stretches the muscles and ligaments of the neck and upper back. Spinal cord injuries are among the most serious back injuries. They take place when displaced pieces of bone, disc fragments, or ligament tears make contact with the spinal cord. This damage can cause major loss of function, loss of sensation, and paralysis.
- Chest injuries: Chest injuries are common after car accidents and are most often caused by the chest striking nearby objects, including seatbelts, airbags, and steering wheels. They vary in severity from bruised or fractured ribs all the way up to major internal organ damage.
- Arm and leg injuries: The arms and legs have the freest movement during a car accident and, thus, it is easy for them to make contact with other objects in the car. Some common arm and leg injuries include crushed or broken bones, bruises, and cuts and scrapes.
All of these injuries can range in severity from treatable with rest and over-the-counter medications at home to extensive hospitalizations. The most serious injuries can require thousands of dollars of medical care and long, difficult recoveries.
If you were severely injured in any kind of car accident, you’ll want to make sure that you have competent representation on your side so that you can receive as much compensation as you deserve.
When to Contact an Attorney After Your Car Accident
The question as to whether you need to contact a personal injury attorney to represent you after a car accident depends on what happened and what injuries everyone suffered. If you suffered only minor injuries in the accident, you may not need an attorney. However, if you or anyone else involved in the accident was injured, especially if the injury is permanent or you lost a significant amount of time from work due to recovery, then you have more justification to speak to an attorney.
Signs that you require representation by a personal injury attorney may include:
- Someone died in the accident
- Fault is at issue
- Other parties were involved in the accident (including pedestrians)
- The police report doesn’t accurately describe what happened
- Your insurance company involves their own attorneys
Once you determined that you need an attorney and begin shopping around for the right one to take your case, keep the following in mind:
- Research all of the available options: Just because you recognize an attorney’s name or phone number from advertisements doesn’t mean that that attorney is the right one for you. Ideally, you should interview several different lawyers before you select one to represent you.
- Choose someone with experience representing your type of case: A personal injury attorney should have experience representing clients who have faced similar situations to yours. You also want to make sure that your attorney has practiced for several years, because someone fresh out of law school might not know all of the ins and outs like a more seasoned litigator.
- Communicate with your attorney: Open, honest, and frequent communication is the cornerstone of a successful attorney-client relationship. If your attorney needs information from you, then he probably has a good reason to ask you about it. Be honest with him and don’t leave out any of the facts, no matter how embarrassing.
- Find out how your attorney will expect you to pay: An expensive attorney is not always a better attorney. The best attorney for you will be the one who strikes the right balance between experience and cost. Also, understand what kind of fee arrangement your attorney uses. Most personal injury lawyers—including ours—use a contingent fee structure, which means we only get paid if we recover compensation for you.
Contact Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, if a Galveston, Texas, Car Accident Injured You
If you were injured in a car accident in Galveston, hop on the phone with one of our Galveston personal injury lawyers as quickly as possible to explore your options. For a free case evaluation to see if Texas law entitles you to compensation for your injuries, contact the lawyers of Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, at 281-664-6500, or send us an email through our online contact form. Remember, you pay nothing at the time we take your case, and you pay us nothing unless and until we’ve won financial recovery for your damages.
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