Houston Personal Injury Law Blog

A 21-year-old woman has been charged with murder and evading arrest after causing a fatal accident while she fled authorities. The woman is suspected to have driven the getaway car after her accomplices stole merchandise worth $2,600 from a nearby Macy's. The car accident took place on Highway 59 near Humble, Texas.

According to police, the getaway vehicle struck the victim's after running a red light. The driver of the other vehicle was killed immediately, and three children were treated at the Ben Taub Hospital for critical injuries. As a result, the charges against the getaway driver are necessarily aggravated because the accident caused serious injury and took place while in the commission of a felony. She has been given a $155,000 bond.

Drunk driving laws have drastically changed over the years to help curb a serious problem in the United States. The changes are a direct result of the high number of serious, sometimes fatal, auto accidents caused by people who were drinking alcohol just prior to driving. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the current blood alcohol content standard is simply not low enough.

The NTSB states that the number of car accidents involving alcohol have decreased by more than half since the current BAC minimum of 0.08 percent was introduced. They contend that the number of auto accidents involving a drunk driver is still too high. That is what has incited them to push for legislation that would lower the maximum BAC to 0.05 percent, the standard by which many other countries define an impaired driver. Texas is one of the states that might consider the lower level. If legislation for the lower limit is enacted, it could positively change the outcome in lawsuits for people bringing cases against a driver who has caused catastrophic injuries in the course of driving while impaired.

A three-car accident in New Braunfels on May 2 left two people injured and a portion of Loop 337 closed for nearly an hour. The car crash occurred in the 2500 block of Loop 337 around 3:30 pm. Work crews had the scene cleared and the road reopened by 4:30 pm.

The accident happened when one car rear-ended the car in front of it, which then rear-ended the next car. The middle car was sandwiched between the two other cars, and emergency personnel reportedly had to remove all of the car's doors to remove the car's driver and passenger. Both individuals were listed in stable condition but were airlifted to a nearby hospital as a precaution due to possible broken bones.

The driver of a fatal bus accident that occurred in northern Texas also was involved in another fatal bus accident in 1998. During the most recent incident, the 65-year-old male driver was operating a bus with 46 passengers when he allegedly swerved the bus into a center median on a highway in Irving. This car accident resulted in the death of two individuals and injuries to several dozen. The bus driver was injured and received treatment in the ICU of a local hospital as a result of this accident.

According to court records, the bus driver was also behind the wheel of a bus that was involved in a fatal accident in 1998. A 22-year-old man was providing aid at the scene of an accident near Dallas when the bus driver's vehicle struck and killed the pedestrian. The driver was not indicted on a negligent homicide charge as a result of the 1998 incident.