What to do after a truck accident in Texas: the scene, the crash report and the insurers

Truck Accident Lawyers SATX is the website of LAWBOSS – Uvalle Law Firm, PLLC. This guide is for the hours and days after a crash with a semi, a box truck or another commercial vehicle in or around San Antonio. Do what you safely can. If you are hurt, your health comes first, and a family member can take care of the rest or call us to help.

At the scene

1. Get to safety and call 911. Stay out of traffic lanes. Tell the dispatcher a commercial truck is involved and whether anyone is hurt or anything is leaking.
2. Accept medical care. Injuries from truck crashes are not always obvious at first. If paramedics recommend the hospital, go.
3. Exchange information. Under Transportation Code section 550.023, each driver in a collision with injury or damage to an attended vehicle must give his or her name and address, the vehicle’s registration number and the liability insurer’s name, and show a driver’s license if asked.
4. Write down the truck’s details. Under 49 CFR 390.21, a commercial truck must be marked with the operating carrier’s name and its USDOT number, and when another company’s name is on the truck, the operating carrier’s name follows the words operated by. Note those, the tractor and trailer numbers and plates, and any name on the trailer. They identify the carrier and the trailer’s owner.
5. Photograph everything you safely can. The vehicles from every side, the trailer’s rear and its impact guard, skid marks, debris, any spilled cargo, the road, signs and signals, and your injuries. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 72.055, authenticated photographs and video of the vehicles are presumed admissible in a commercial vehicle case.
6. Get witnesses’ names and numbers. People who stop to help often leave before the police finish.
7. Keep your statements short. Tell the officer what happened as plainly as you can. Do not argue with the truck driver or apologize for the crash, and do not guess about speeds or distances.

In the first days

• See a doctor and follow through. Go to your follow-up appointments and keep the paperwork. Gaps in treatment are something insurers point to.
• Tell your own insurer. Give your insurer the basic facts. Ask whether you have personal injury protection and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Under Insurance Code sections 1952.101 and 1952.152 these come with a Texas auto policy unless the named insured rejected them in writing.
• Be careful with the trucking company’s insurer. Its adjuster may call quickly and ask for a recorded statement or for permission to collect your medical records. You do not have to give either. Once you have a lawyer, refer every call to the lawyer.
• Keep the vehicle and damaged property. Do not let your car be repaired or scrapped until it has been photographed and, if needed, inspected. The same goes for a damaged helmet, child seat or phone.
• Keep a record. Bills, receipts, mileage to appointments, days missed from work and a short note each day about pain and what you could not do.
• Stay off social media about the crash. Posts and photographs can be taken out of context.

Getting the crash report

The officer who investigates a collision with injury, death or apparent property damage of 1,000 dollars or more must make a written report, the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (form CR-3), and file it electronically with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code section 550.062). TxDOT sells copies through its Crash Report Online Purchase System: 6 dollars for a regular copy and 8 dollars for a certified copy, delivered by email. Under section 550.065, the report is released to people directly concerned in the crash, including anyone involved and their authorized representatives.

The report names the drivers, the vehicles, the insurers given at the scene, the officer’s description of what happened, any citations, and contributing factors the officer noted. It is a starting point, not the final word. Officers write it at the scene, often before the truck’s data or logs have been seen, and errors in it can be addressed.

Why speed matters in a truck case

The trucking company holds the records that show what happened, and federal rules let it discard some of them within months: driver inspection reports after three months (49 CFR 396.11) and logs and supporting documents after six months (49 CFR 395.8(k)). Camera video and engine data can be lost sooner. A lawyer’s preservation letter, sent early, tells the company in writing to keep them. Our truck accident lawyer San Antonio page explains what the letter covers.

Deadlines to know

• Two years to file most injury suits in Texas, from the day of the crash (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003).
• Six months to give written notice of a claim against a government unit, such as a city or county truck, or less if a city charter says so (101.101).
• Your policy’s own notice terms for reporting the crash to your insurer.

If someone was killed

When a truck crash is fatal, the claim belongs to the surviving spouse, children and parents under Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 71.004, and the two-year limit runs from the date of death. A family can call us at any hour; we can handle the preservation letter and the insurers while the family takes care of what matters most.

More help

• Truck wreck lawyer San Antonio: the local roads, TxDOT’s figures and the trauma centers
• Texas truck accident laws: the statutes behind each deadline
• Truck accident questions: short answers to common questions

If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs; the written fee agreement sets the percentage and how advanced costs are handled when there is a recovery.

Questions people ask