Some of the most complicated personal injury claims following auto accidents in Texas are the result of secondary crashes following initial contact. They can occur in a wide variety of scenarios, ranging from striking a guardrail and careening over the highway to hitting additional vehicles coming from the other direction or from behind with no time to stop. The vehicular control rule may not apply to those approaching from the rear who are victims of circumstance. Determining who is actually at fault can be difficult, which is central to all Texas highway collisions, and this especially applies in multiple vehicles crashes.
Secondary braking systems
Many modern vehicles not only have an anti-locking braking system for initial impact, but will have a secondary braking system that reduces the vehicle’s ability to continue after a collision. The secondary system may not work as intended on wet or slick surfaces, as tire traction is minimized. Not only are there serious personal injury claims stemming from the first hit, but even worse injuries can be suffered from a post-collision impact.
Potential additional injuries
Many specific accident injuries occur with the initial forward impact, but most initial impacts will result in the deployment of airbags to protect the passengers. The problem with secondary collisions is that they often involve sideways contact, which makes all passengers vulnerable to very serious personal injury due to a lack of protection from the vehicle. This is especially true when the passengers are in a compact car with little vehicular structure protection.
It is important to remember that most secondary collision cases will involve several vehicles when the crash sequence of events ceases. Not only can a vehicle causing the accident bounce off of one vehicle to another, but oncoming or trailing vehicles can strike any vehicle involved in the primary accident. And all of these will complicate the personal injury claims significantly when the accident is investigated for liability.