Allowing someone else to use a vehicle can be a kind gesture, but it can potentially have financial consequences. There may be issues with liability if a crash occurs. What happens if someone who borrows a vehicle gets into a wreck while driving that borrowed vehicle?

The Owner’s Policy May Pay

Texas requires several different types of car insurance. Basic liability coverage mandated under state law covers the vehicle regardless of who is driving. As long as the person at the wheel had permission to operate the vehicle, the liability coverage of the actual owner may pay for any crash caused by someone operating the insured vehicle.

The vehicle’s owner provides the coverage that may pay for property damage liability and injury-related expenses for the parties involved in the collision if the person driving their vehicle was at fault. However, no-fault personal injury protection coverage and other forms of supplemental insurance may follow the driver, not the vehicle.

Especially in scenarios where the person borrowing the vehicle is at fault for a crash, they may not have any available coverage to pay for their medical treatment. That being said, actual legal liability relates to responsibility for causing the crash, not simply owning and insuring a vehicle. If the other party involved in the incident intends to pursue a personal injury lawsuit, the party held accountable should typically be the driver who caused the collision, not necessarily the owner of the vehicle.

Claims related to crashes caused by other drivers can increase what a motorist pays for insurance and lead to other legal and financial complications. Vehicle owners need to consider the risks carefully before letting someone else drive a vehicle. Understanding what insurance applies in a car crash involving a borrowed car is important. Generous vehicle owners may unintentionally put themselves at financial risk by sharing their good fortune with others.

A Forbes Advisor comparison of all states determined that Texas ranks third on the list of unsafe drivers from across the country. There are two main issues in this state that stand out.

Drunk Driving

Texas ranks second in the country for fatal drunk driving motor vehicle crashes. There are 8.32 of these fatal crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers in this state. Impairment is measured as blood alcohol concentration (BAC). In Texas, .08% is considered legally drunk for a person can legally drink. It’s possible for a driver to be impaired by other substances like illegal drugs or legal medications.

Once a driver is impaired, they don’t have the reaction skills and cognitive abilities that enable them to drive safely. The more a person drinks, the more it will affect their driving abilities.

Drowsy Driving

Drowsy driving is another primary issue in this state. Texas has 1.29 fatal drowsy driving crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers, which puts the state in fourth place for this problem.

One of the main concerns regarding drowsy driving is that it can lead to microsleeps. These occur when the driver dozes off while they’re driving, so the vehicle isn’t under anyone’s control. Another problem with fatigued driving is that the effects begin to mimic impaired driving. A driver who hasn’t slept for 20 hours experiences similar effects as a person who has a BAC of .08%.

Even when drunk or fatigued driving crashes aren’t fatal, they can still lead to catastrophic injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. These injuries can lead to considerable medical bills, so victims may need to pursue a compensation claim to hold a negligent driver accountable for their financial damages. These cases can be complex, so having legal assistance is beneficial.

Unfortunately, many animal owners in Texas end up making unsafe choices because of their desire to offer their animals a pleasant experience. For example, people may let their dogs off of their leashes while at a park or beach even though there may be signs warning them against that exact decision.

Why is it so important for dog owners to keep their animals on a leash?

Loose Animals Cause Safety Issues

A dog running free in a park or down a sidewalk could it startle someone. While the dog may not intend to cause any harm to someone else, a human could fall and end up seriously injured after encountering a dog that scares them. In fact, the dog could potentially also injure itself. Leo the golden retriever recently made national news after he fell off the edge of a cliff while running unleashed during a park visit with his owners. The Coast Guard had to use a helicopter to rescue the dog.

Animals May Fight With Each Other

Even a dog who usually seems like a happy, friendly animal can turn aggressive in a moment if they encounter another dog that they dislike. They may take off running before their owner ever notices the other animal. The scent of another dog or its behavior might trigger aggression in a typically friendly animal. An unleashed dog may attack someone else’s pet, leading to major animal injuries and veterinary bills. When one animal attacks another, the animal’s owner may sometimes be liable for the damages the animal caused.

Dogs May Perceive People as a Threat

If someone adopted a rescue dog, they may not know its history with humans. The dog may have experienced abuse before or witnessed human criminal activity that could trigger volatile behavior. When dogs feel threatened, they can act in a way that is contrary to their normal behavior. They may become aggressive even toward humans. They may attack someone that they believe poses a threat to them or their owner. A dog in an unfamiliar location might also be more likely to lash out toward others because it feels anxious about its environment.

In Texas, the owner of an aggressive animal may incur legal and financial liabilities for the damages it causes others. Someone who lets their dog run loose in public puts themselves at risk of major expenses and puts other people at risk of preventable injuries. As such, taking legal action against an irresponsible dog owner is a reasonable reaction if someone gets hurt by an aggressive canine.

Statistically, the holidays result in a significant increase in certain types of risks. Some people end up hurt, and occasionally people die because of common risk factors that become more pronounced during the holiday season. Celebrating should still be the main priority, but people may want to adjust their conduct somewhat to reflect the possibility of injury or death marring their holiday celebrations. To start, consider these top often overlooked risks that increase during the holiday season.

Drunk Driving Crashes

For many families, holiday celebrations are synonymous with alcohol consumption. People may drink beer while watching football games or have a special holiday cocktail they share with their loved ones. More alcohol consumption combined with same-day road travel means that the holidays often see a significant increase in drunk driving deaths when compared with other days of the year.

Dangerous Conditions at People’s Homes

It is common for parents and grandparents to host holiday celebrations, but they may not engage in proper maintenance of their residences throughout the year. When people come to visit, they might be at significant risk of injury. Loose handrails, damaged flooring and a variety of other issues with someone’s home could lead to people getting hurt during their holiday visits.

Unsafe Retail Establishments

The holidays tend to see a massive uptick in shopping. Most people understand that Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving is a very dangerous day to visit retail establishments. Historically, there have even been fatalities due to people getting crushed in the rush to enter stores. The high volume of people throughout the holiday shopping season at retail establishments will often mean that workers have more tasks to fulfill than time. Cleaning and maintenance will often take a backseat to helping customers and running a cash register. People could easily slip and fall in an unclean spill or have poorly stocked merchandise fall on them from shelving units.

Exposure to Defective Products

Friends, employers and family members are often eager to buy exciting gifts, which might mean purchasing something that has just reached the retail market. Popular holiday purchases can potentially cause injuries or worse. For example, hoverboards have been massively popular in recent years, and they caused fatal house fires in some cases.

Being aware of the risk factors that can compromise people’s safety around the holidays in the San Antonio area may help people plan safer celebrations for themselves and the people they love.

People never know when they might encounter someone with unsafe driving habits and get into a crash, but there are certain locations where the risk of such experiences will be higher. Statistically, some roads in Texas are deadlier than others. What are the most dangerous roads in Texas in recent years?

The Deadliest Roads Are All Highways

Higher speed limits and heavier traffic levels make highways and interstates some of the most dangerous roads in the Lone Star State. Often, the areas where these major thoroughfares pass through urban centers will be some of the most dangerous places.

According to a review of crash data gathered between 2018 and 2020, there were 10,125 deadly crashes during that time. The good news for those in the San Antonio area is that none of the 10 deadliest roads in the state during those years were local. I-20 is the third deadliest road on the list, specifically between Exit 443 and Exit 439, where 14 people lost their lives.

Technically, I-20 was in fourth place because different stretches of I-35 in Austin took second and third place respectively. There were 15 deaths on the section of I-35 between Exit 235B and Exit 229 and 18 deaths reported between Exit 238B and Exit 244. The deadliest road in the state is a stretch of I-10 in Beaumont. There were 17 traffic deaths between Exit 855A and Exit 849 during the three years with data reviewed.

How Can This Information Help Drivers?

San Antonio drivers should not develop a false sense of safety just because there aren’t any particularly deadly roads in the city. They are still at risk of a severe or fatal crash whenever they drive, especially if they leave the region and end up on one of the interstates mentioned above as having a high number of fatal crashes.

Motorists need to adjust their driving habits to prioritize safety on more dangerous roads or to avoid the streets with higher crash rates might keep themselves and the occupants of their vehicles a little bit safer. Recognizing where someone’s risk on the road is highest might help individuals take some of the danger out of driving in Texas.

These are some of the potential hazards heat poses on roads and the broader implications for transportation system safety overall.

The Stress on Wheels

One of the most immediate effects of extreme heat on vehicles is the increased risk of tire blowouts. As temperatures rise, the rubber components of tires expand. This can cause the pressure in tires to decrease. Underinflated tires, exacerbated by heat-related expansion, are more prone to blowouts. Therefore, during hot months, proper tire maintenance and adequate inflation may become particularly imperative.

Engine Overheating and Performance

High temperatures can also take a toll on vehicle engines. Engine components can overheat, causing decreased performance, reduced fuel efficiency and even engine damage. Regular maintenance, checking coolant levels and proper engine functioning are essential to help prevent overheating during hot weather.

Rising Temperatures and Road Surfaces

Summer’s relentless heat takes a toll on road surfaces, which are subject to continuous expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuations. This phenomenon, known as thermal expansion, can lead to cracks and fissures in the asphalt. When water seeps into these cracks and freezes during cooler nights, it exacerbates the damage, causing potholes to form.

Furthermore, the materials used in road construction, such as asphalt and concrete, are susceptible to temperature-induced damage. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can lead to a phenomenon known as “rutting,” where the road surface softens and deforms under the weight of vehicles. This creates uneven surfaces, reducing road grip and making driving conditions dangerous, particularly during rain or nighttime.

Stress on Bridges and Overpasses

Bridges and overpasses face unique challenges in high temperatures. The metal components of these structures expand under heat, which can lead to structural stresses and even structural failures if they’re not appropriately managed. Proper engineering and maintenance are crucial in helping to ensure that these critical pieces of infrastructure can withstand temperature-induced strains.

During summer, roads are subjected to thermal stresses that lead to cracks and deformities, while vehicles face tire blowouts and engine overheating. By understanding this reality, drivers can be inspired to drive more defensively and to drive at cooler times of day to stay safer when conditions get hotter and more dangerous.

What Kind of Bladder Injuries Are Common?

Motor vehicle accidents can lead to a wide variety of injuries. These include blunt force and penetration injuries, chiefly related to seatbelts. The high force of the impact can cause the bladder to be tightly compressed or ruptured. This can lead to severe pain and the possibility of long-term damage.

The spine can also be pushed out of shape due to a car accident. This can lead to chronic dysfunction in the bladder. This can lead to such effects as frequent urgency, incontinence, and difficulty in completely emptying the bladder. You may also experience pain in your back and pelvic areas.

In many cases, your bladder will not rupture but will only be torn. While this is a less severe injury, it can still result in a great deal of pain and discomfort. The most common symptoms are blood in the urine and pain while urinating.

How Can Bladder Injuries Be Treated?

There are many types of dangers on the road that can lead to a bladder injury. If the bladder has been ruptured, you will require immediate surgery. Injuries related to spinal misalignment can usually be treated by a chiropractor. The relief that this gives you can take most of the pressure off of your bladder.

Observing safe driving practices is the best way to avoid a bladder or other injury. Drive at the speed limit and carefully follow all posted signs. Stay away from drivers that appear to be weaving or behaving erratically. Never drive in the blind spot of a large tractor-trailer. These simple precautions can save you a lot of pain.

Certain criminal and traffic courts may even order people to take driving courses when they have caused crashes or displayed poor decision-making at the wheel. There are also many employers that may require defensive driving to reduce crash risk on the job, as car wreck wrecks are a leading cause of worker deaths and severe injuries.

Many people are very skeptical about the usefulness of additional driving courses when someone already has a license. Does defensive driving actually help?

Defensive Driving Can Empower Individuals

The point of defensive driving education is to teach people about the top causes of crash risk. Defensive driving courses typically identify the decisions that often lead to wrecks, including distraction at the wheel, excess speed and right-of-way violations.

By teaching motorists about what traffic behaviors are the most dangerous, defensive driving courses can help people make better decisions for themselves at the wheel. The course can also help someone understand how prevalent the risk generated by other motorists really is. Defensive driving is also about monitoring traffic more carefully and possibly pausing at a four-way stop to wait and see what the person across the intersection does after approaching.

Although defensive driving cannot eliminate someone’s crash risk, it absolutely can teach them about their top safety risks and Inspire them to make safer choices on the road.

Implementation Is More Important Than Education

The unfortunate truth about defensive driving courses is that they often don’t work as they should not because the curriculum has innate flaws but rather because the people attending the courses don’t take the lessons seriously. Defensive driving as a concept will do very little to reduce someone’s crash risk. It is only the successful implementation of defensive driving techniques that may help someone improve their safety in traffic.

If people won’t avoid known driving safety risks and treat others like a threat in traffic, then the education that they receive will have very little impact on their overall safety. Learning more about what causes crashes can help people avoid motor vehicle collisions, but only if they change their habits to reflect their changing awareness.

Maybe someone spilled a margarita next to the bar, leading to a slip-and-fall wherein someone suffers a traumatic brain injury. Perhaps a server rushing by with a full tray of plates drops everything, leading to a neck injury for the patron struck by that heavy tray.

Those who have been hurt while trying to enjoy a meal at a business might wonder if they have a right to pursue a claim against the bar or restaurant for the injury they suffered. When would a business potentially be liable for a patron’s injuries?

When Negligence Contributed to the Injury

Sometimes, businesses make very unsafe choices about the employee dress code or the design of their establishments. What they do to try to stand out from the competition might make the space less safe.

Other times, it is simply the all-too-common practice of maintaining very low staffing levels that will lead to people getting injured at a restaurant or bar. There could also be questions about culpability in an incident where someone who has had far too much to drink ends up hurting another patron.

Anytime that the injured patron can reasonably claim negligence, they may have grounds for a premises liability claim. If another reasonable person would agree that the business did something unsafe or failed to do something crucial for the safety of others, a patron hurt at that business might have a viable claim against the company.

Insurance Often Covers Such Situations

Although the injured patron will often need to pursue a lawsuit to secure compensation, it will typically be an insurance policy, rather than the business itself, that covers the costs associated with the claim. Bars and restaurants often have insurance that will protect them from lawsuits related to all kinds of scenarios, from someone burned by flambe to a person who falls and gets hurt in a flooded bathroom.

Recognizing when a business may be liable for someone’s harm is an important first step toward pursuing justice after an injury occurs. Anyone who is unsure of whether an establishment is at fault for their harm could potentially benefit from seeking legal guidance and greater clarity.

Many factors influence the likelihood of a collision, including weather, road conditions, vehicle maintenance and driver conduct. Some influences have a very strong association with severe and even fatal motor vehicle collisions. Although motor vehicle wrecks occur for a variety of reasons, these are the four most pressing and common issues that lead to modern wrecks.

1. Impaired Driving

Despite public awareness regarding the inherent dangers of intoxication at the wheel, plenty of people still drive after drinking or consuming mind-altering drugs. Impaired drivers are responsible for a significant portion of crashes every year, including a large number of fatal collisions. In Texas, state crash statistics indicate that someone dies in a drunk driving collision roughly every eight hours and 31 minutes.

2. Distracted Driving

Distraction has always been a risk, as people can get into conversations with their passengers or gawk at unsightly roadside attractions instead of focusing on the road ahead of them. Mobile phones have only worsened the risk of distraction, creating a compulsive need in many people to check their devices whenever a notification sounds. Distraction caused by mobile devices, eating at the wheel and other vehicle occupants is a top cause of modern crashes.

3. Fatigued Driving

It is quite common for people to not get enough rest on a day-to-day basis. Those who have gone a long time without sleep frequently show the same kind of impairment as intoxicated drivers and will have a hard time staying awake, making good decisions and reacting quickly. They might also fall asleep at the wheel, which would lead to them losing control of the vehicle.

4. Excessive Speed

Speeding is one of the most common traffic infractions. Many drivers think there’s little risk in exceeding the posted speed limit, but crash risk increases as speeds increase in many cases. The speed limit isn’t the only consideration. Drivers also need to know when to slow down because of weather issues that may make driving at faster speeds more dangerous.

Sadly, many people don’t think about the risk that they’re exposing themselves and others to when making choices about how they are going to approach the task of driving. Learning about and properly mitigating known causes of car crashes can help people to stay safer on the road. With that said, self-education won’t be enough in the wake of an injurious crash. Under these circumstances, it is important to seek legal guidance.