Vidor, TX — There was an accident early Thursday in Vidor that left an 18-wheeler truck hanging off of I-10 and two drivers injured. Police said that this happened around 6:45 a.m. that morning, January 29, 2015 in the westbound lanes of I-10.
So far, they confirmed that a dark-colored Nissan sedan was headed west on I-10 that morning while an 18-wheeler truck was in the lane next to it. Near Highway 12, the Nissan tried to switch lanes, but accidentally crashed into the 18-wheeler.
The 18-wheeler swerved to the right side of the interstate, where it crashed through the concrete guardrail and overturned, leaving the cab “hanging” off the side of the elevated highway.
The drivers of both vehicles were injured and taken to hospitals, but their names and conditions haven’t been released yet.
View from the Road
Commentary:
When people here “semi-truck” or “18-wheeler,” they often picture big, invincible machines that don’t take much damage. In many ways, that’s true, but you’d be surprised at the amount of damage that can be done to an 18-wheeler truck when the weight of its trailer presses on the cab. As you can see in the picture, it doesn’t take much to do some serious damage.
With that said, the 18-wheeler driver here would likely have a claim against the driver that caused the accident — assuming that the news reports I read were accurate and the smaller car swerved into his lane. Since most insurance companies for regular cars don’t carry a lot of coverage for major accidents like this, there would have to be some sort of Under-insured Motorist Coverage policy attached to the truck driver’s policy. That’s a very common thing for drivers to carry — odds are, the person reading this has a UIM policy they don’t even know about — but it’s not necessarily a “given.” However, when that kind of police does exist, it’s very helpful for accident victims.
— Grossman Law Offices
