Police: Woman survives crash despite being thrown from vehicle
by Benjamin Treviño | October 14th, 2022 | Auto Accident
SAN ANTONIO – A woman is hospitalized after she was ejected from her vehicle during a crash on San Antonio’s far north side.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, the crash happened just before 4:00 a.m. October 13 on Highway 281 near Summit Church Road. A department news release states the woman was driving north on Highway 281 when, for an unknown reason, she lost control of her vehicle, and rolled into a median.
The woman, who was not immediately identified, was thrown from the vehicle, police said. She was taken by EMS to University Hospital, where she was expected to recover.
No other vehicles were involved, police said.
Seat belts and personal injury cases
It’s not known if the woman in the above story was wearing her seat belt or not, but the incident begs the question: Does it hurt your personal injury case if you weren’t wearing a seat belt?
The law
Under Texas law, it’s mandatory that you wear your seat belt when you’re driving or riding in a vehicle on a public road. For most of us, wearing a seat belt has become a habit, but sometimes we forget, and once in a while we might momentarily unbuckle to adjust our clothing, or reach for something.
However, if you’re involved in an accident when you aren’t wearing a seat belt, you can be given a ticket even after the crash. More importantly, you could suffer much more significant injuries because of it.
Impact on personal injury claim
Not wearing your seat belt can indeed have a negative effect on your personal injury claim, especially if the injuries could have been avoided by wearing one.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t file a personal injury claim if the accident happened because of someone else’s negligence. Regardless of whether you were wearing a seat belt or not, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt if the other person’s vehicle hadn’t hit yours. It is still their responsibility to compensate you for your injuries if they were the one who caused the crash.
That being said, the judge in your case might lower your compensation, depending on the circumstances. For instance, if you’re seeking $1,000,000 in compensation to cover your losses, the judge may reduce that award to $500,000 if he rules you were partially at fault for your own injuries by failing to wear your seat belt.
Legal advice
Every case is different when it comes to the use of seat belts. In some cases, wearing a belt wouldn’t have changed the outcome at all. In others, it would have made a significant difference. The personal injury attorneys at the J. Gonzalez Law Firm can review the circumstances of your case, and let you know if this will hurt your personal injury claim. If we take on your case, we will still fight to get you as much compensation as possible to cover your losses. Call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation at 1-800-CAR-CRASH.
