Injured in an Accident With a Hit-and-Run Driver?

Any car accident can be a terrifying and confusing experience, and this is most certainly the case when a hit-and-run accident occurs. Unfortunately, hit-and-run accidents are relatively common in the United States and across Texas. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, there were more than 737,000 hit-and-run collisions in the United States during the latest reporting year. Fleeing the scene of a car accident in Texas is illegal. If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident with a hit-and-run driver, there are several steps you can take to ensure your own well-being and help secure the compensation you deserve.

Steps to take after a hit-and-run accident

Take these steps if someone hits your vehicle and flees the scene:

1. Get to safety and call the police. It can be tempting to want to chase after a person who flees the scene of an accident. Do not do this. Pull your car to a safe location if you can, and call the police. Give the dispatcher any details about the vehicle and driver that fled, such as the car make and model, license plate number (even if you only remember part of it), what the driver looked like, the direction they drove, etc.

2. Determine whether there are any witnesses. If anyone is standing around or if any other vehicles are stopped, ask if anyone witnessed the crash. Get the name and contact information of any eyewitnesses.

3. Take photographs of the scene. If you have a camera (most smartphones do) and it is safe to do so, take pictures of the accident scene. This includes any vehicles involved, damages, any injuries, traffic conditions, weather conditions, and any debris scattered around the accident scene.

4. Call an experienced attorney. Most reputable car accident attorneys offer free initial consultations for your case. It does not hurt to speak with an attorney to determine whether or not they will be able to help you secure maximum compensation.

5. Report the incident to your insurance carrier. Insurance carriers require that you report any accident fairly soon after it occurs. When you make your initial report, all you have to do is let the insurance carrier know that an accident occurred and give them the information of the other driver’s insurance carrier. Avoid taking any fault for the incident and do not go into detail about your injuries during this initial report.

Will insurance cover the expenses for a hit-and-run accident?

One of the main concerns of those involved in a hit-and-run accident is securing compensation for their medical bills and property damage. This can be complicated, especially if the police fail to catch the hit-and-run driver or if they are uninsured. You should check your policy to ensure that you have uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage and uninsured motorist property damage coverage. However, neither type of uninsured motorist coverage is required for drivers in Texas. If you do have uninsured motorist coverage, your medical bills and property damage will be covered up to your policy limits. You must speak to a qualified East Texas car accident attorney who can help you sort through all the routes available for you to pursue compensation.

Who is at Fault in a Changing Lanes Car Accident?

Car accidents occur frequently in and around our area. Regardless of how safely you operate your vehicle, you cannot control the actions of other drivers around you. Lane change accidents are relatively common. Often, these incidents result from a brief distraction by one or more drivers. Regardless of how a lane change accident occurs, the immediate issue is ensuring that everybody is safe. However, in the aftermath of a crash, it will need to be determined who was at fault. As with most car accident cases, the fault in a lane change crash depends on various factors.

How is fault determined in these incidents?

As with almost every other car accident, police will investigate a lane change accident and often cite one or both drivers for the crash. Depending on how the fault is assigned, insurance claims can become very confusing. When a driver needs to make a lane change, they must activate their turn signals in the direction they intend to go. If a driver does not have turn signals, they will need to give the appropriate hand signals to signal that they want to change lanes. These turn signals or hand signs let drivers around them know what their intentions are. However, that does not give a driver the right to change lanes when they feel like it. A driver who wishes to change lanes must check their mirrors and blind spots to ensure that it is safe for them to make a shift. Drivers should never change lanes until it is safe for them to do so. A lane-changing driver could be at fault in the following circumstances:

• They failed to activate their turn signals before changing lanes and collided with a vehicle in another lane.

• They did not check their blind spot or mirrors before they changed lanes and collided with a vehicle beside them.

• The driver crosses multiple lanes of traffic at once without stopping in each lane to signal their intention to change lanes.

• A driver is recklessly operating and weaving in and out of traffic.

You will find that, in most cases, a driver is at fault for an incident in a car or tructruck accidentt results from their entering another lane. However, the following scenarios could result in both drivers being cited for a lane-changing accident:

• Two vehicles attempt to change lanes simultaneously, resulting in a sideswipe or side-impact collision.

• A driver shows reckless behavior or road rage and refuses to allow another driver to change lanes.

• A vehicle in the lane in which the other driver wants to change to has brake lights or headlights that are not working properly at the time of the incident.

• A driver rear-ends someone who has recently changed lanes, possibly indicating that they were operating too fast for conditions.

Merging into traffic

There are other times when a driver needs to merge from one lane to another, such as from a city street onto a highway or vice versa. Drivers need to realize that vehicles already on the roadway that they wish to get to have the right-of-way. Drivers wanting to merge into traffic need to activate their turn signals and wait until there is an opening in the traffic before they begin to merge. This may require the driver who wants to merge to stop and wait until they can get into traffic. Drivers who are already in the other lane of moving traffic are not required to slow down or move over to allow drivers to merge.

What Is the Average Settlement For a Texas Car Accident?

Nobody wants to be involved in a car accident. However, vehicle accidents are common in and around our area. The Texas Department of Transportation reports that approximately 250,000 total injuries were reported during the latest available year. Many of these injuries were minor, but several thousand serious car accident injuries are reported each year. In the aftermath of a car accident, many victims wonder how much compensation they can expect from an insurance settlement. While the average insurance settlement in Texas, as reported by the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association (RMIIA), was $15,440, this number can be misleading. It is essential to understand that the circumstances of each crash can cause settlement amounts to vary widely.

What is essential to focus on in these cases?

Rather than analyzing what an average settlement might be, it is more helpful to examine the various types of compensation available to victims in the aftermath of a car accident in Texas. This can include coverage for:

• Medical bills. Medical bills are often the most significant expense that a person incurs in the aftermath of a car accident. A settlement should cover emergency medical care, hospitalization, follow-up doctor's visits, physical therapy, and other related expenses. Other medical expenses can include the cost of prescription medications, as well as devices needed to aid recovery (such as walkers, hospital beds, and wheelchairs).

• Lost income. If a car accident victim is unable to work while they recover from their injuries, they will need compensation for any income and benefits they lose. This could include any loss of future earnings if their injuries prevent them from performing the same job they were able to before the accident.

• Property damage. Car accident victims will need compensation to repair or replace a damaged vehicle. A vehicle represents a person's ability to make a living and to live their daily lives.

• Pain and suffering. In many cases, car accident victims suffer from physical, emotional, and psychological pain and suffering due to their injuries. These damages are harder to calculate than other accident-related expenses, but they can be worth more than a person’s medical costs.

The amount of compensation a person receives in the aftermath of a car or motorcycle accident depends on various factors, including the severity of the injuries, the extent of property damage, and the level of pain and suffering experienced by the victim.

What are the Texas car insurance requirements?

Drivers must maintain the following minimum insurance coverage requirements to remain legal on the roadway in Texas:

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

• Property Damage Liability: $25,000

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage are not mandatory in the state of Texas. However, they must be rejected by the policyholder at the time of signing up for coverage with an insurer. Examining these minimums, you can see how quickly insurance coverage can be exhausted. Many severe injuries will have medical costs that rise well above the $30,000 bodily injury liability limit. Car accident victims need to understand that insurance carriers will do everything possible to limit the amount of money they pay in a settlement. A skilled Texas car accident attorney will assist an injured car accident victim throughout the entirety of their case to obtain maximum compensation.

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 period 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 Medicare or Medicaid can be used to cover 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 typically include written correspondence regarding 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 appropriately 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 assisting you with this, as dealing with the COB contractor can be challenging. 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 be reimbursed 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 the amount Medicare claims to have paid and what your records indicate or what you actually spent on medical costs, the settlement money could be held until the issue is resolved.

Compensate Pain And Suffering After A Minor Car Accident

Getting into a car accident of any kind is not on anyone’s list of things to do. However, we are aware that car accidents occur frequently in and around our area. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were around 250,000 people injured and 3,639 fatalities across the state in motor vehicle accidents during the latest reporting year. In most cases, victims of car accidents can recover compensation for their injuries and property damage in the aftermath of the incident. For severe accidents, victims are often able to recover compensation for physical, emotional, and psychological pain and suffering damages as well. However, you may wonder whether you can receive pain and suffering compensation for a minor car accident.

What is considered a minor car accident?

Determining exactly what constitutes a minor car accident can be relatively subjective. Sometimes, what many people consider a minor car accident can cause bothersome or even long-term injuries for those involved. For example, the following may occur:

• A fender bender causes the airbag to explode, leading to facial injuries.

• You are rear-ended and experience stiffness in your back or soreness in your neck.

• A loud and traumatic crash triggers headaches, anxiety, or trouble sleeping.

What is pain and suffering?

The term “pain and suffering” refers to both physical and emotional stress caused by the motor vehicle accident and injuries. There are two ways in which a person can recover compensation for their injuries and for any associated pain and suffering after a vehicle accident.

• By filing a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance carrier

• By filing a lawsuit against the at-fault driver directly through a civil court action

The amount of pain and suffering compensation that a person is awarded is generally directly tied to the severity of the injuries a person sustains. For example, a person who sustains a spinal cord injury and partial paralysis that affects their ability to enjoy their daily life activities will likely receive much more pain and suffering compensation than someone who sustains a sprained wrist and recovers within two weeks. However, many minor accidents can lead to serious injuries with long-lasting consequences for the victim. While a simple fender bender may look minor to a bystander, a passenger or victim could sustain whiplash injuries that lead to them being unable to work for a significant amount of time. Minor car accidents often lead to substantial injuries. To secure pain and suffering damages after a minor car accident, the victim will need to be able to prove that they indeed endured pain and suffering due to their injuries. With help from an attorney, a car accident victim can present evidence from doctors about the severity of their injury. They could work to show that they are unable to perform daily tasks or work activities due to their injuries. Testimony from family and friends may also be beneficial to help prove that your quality of life has changed due to the car accident injuries. If a car accident injury victim is unable to back up their claim that the injuries they sustained caused pain and suffering, they may receive little to no compensation at all. That is why it is essential to secure an attorney soon after an accident occurs to ensure you take all the appropriate steps to obtain maximum compensation for your car accident claim.