Texans live busy, productive lives, but this often leads to congested roadways and frustrated drivers. When a driver’s frustration behind the wheel escalates into aggressive driving, it often endangers more than the reckless driver; it jeopardizes the lives of others sharing the roadway.
If you’ve experienced an accident caused by another driver’s aggression, you have the right to a sense of justice through financial accountability. A Carrollton car accident lawyer can help you act upon your legal rights.
What Is Aggressive Driving?
According to the Information Insurance Institute, aggressive driving is any unsafe driving behavior performed deliberately and with a disregard for safety. In 2020, there were 53,890 aggressive driving related behaviors contributing to fatal accidents.
Aggressive driving behaviors include the following:
- Excessive speeding
- Tailgating
- Making unsafe, frequent lane changes without signaling (weaving through traffic)
- Passing in the emergency lane or along the shoulder of the road
- Intentionally cutting off other drivers
- Aggressively honking or flashing lights at other drivers
- Intentionally running through a red light or stop sign
- Brake-checking or intentionally tapping the brakes in front of another driver
- Intentionally blocking another driver from changing lanes or merging
- Flashing high-beams at other drivers out of anger
Aggressive driving is not the same as road rage, which involves actions such as intentionally bumping another vehicle out of anger, or threatening or engaging in violent confrontations.
Understanding Aggressive Driving Accidents In Texas
In Texas, all drivers have a legal duty of care to take reasonable measures to avoid causing an accident. An aggressive driver endangers all others on the roadway, breaching their duty of care. Common types of aggressive driving accidents in Texas include the following:
- Rear-end collisions
- Forced roadway departures
- T-bone accidents or broadside collisions
- Sideswipes
- Head-on collisions
- Rollover accidents
- Speeding accidents
- Multi-car pileups or chain reaction accidents
Aggressive drivers often report frustration, running late, traffic congestion, and anger at other drivers as triggers for their aggressive driving.
What Types of Injuries are Caused By Aggressive Driving Accidents In Texas?
Aggressive drivers often cause devastating accidents with serious injuries due to excessive speeds. The crash force of an accident escalates with increased speed. Common injuries to other motorists involved in accidents caused by aggressive drivers include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Fractures
- Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, tendon injuries, and torn ligaments
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Facial and dental injuries
- Internal organ injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Burns
- Traumatic amputations
- Crush injuries
Injuries are painful and sometimes temporarily debilitating, causing expensive medical bills to arrive at the same time they interfere with the ability to work. In the worst cases, an accident can cause catastrophic permanent injury or wrongful death.
In Texas, a spouse, parent, or child of a deceased victim of an aggressive driver can recover compensation for their losses through a Carrollton wrongful death claim.
Understanding Recoverable Damages After an Aggressive Driving Accident
No legal process can erase the trauma of being involved in an accident caused by an aggressive driver, but under the modified comparative negligence system in Texas, an injury victim has the right to seek compensation for their accident-related financial losses. Common damages recovered in successful claims include total past and future medical expenses, total income loss, reduced earning ability (in disability cases), and compensation for pain and suffering.
A catastrophically injured victim could recover compensation for future life-planning losses for their required care. An aggressive driving accident lawyer protects the injury victim’s best interests throughout the car accident claim process.