Accident lawyer in San Antonio for car, truck, motorcycle and other road crashes

Most of the people who call LAWBOSS from San Antonio were hurt on the road: in a car on I-35 or Loop 410, on a motorcycle, on foot in a crosswalk, or as a passenger in a rideshare. This page covers road accidents from the first minutes at the scene to the insurance claim, and the differences between a car wreck, a truck crash and a motorcycle crash. It is written by LAWBOSS – Uvalle Law Firm, PLLC, whose San Antonio website this is.

What Texas law requires at the scene

The Transportation Code sets out what every driver involved in a crash must do. These duties apply to the other driver as much as to you, and a driver who ignores them often hands you evidence.

• Stop and stay. A driver in a collision that injures or is likely to injure someone must stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, return if they did not stop, find out whether anyone needs aid, and remain until they have given their information (section 550.021). Leaving is an offense.
• Give information and help. Each driver must give their name, address, vehicle registration number and liability insurer, show a driver’s license if asked, and give reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging transport to a doctor or hospital when it is needed or requested (section 550.023).
• Report it at once. When someone is hurt or killed, or a vehicle cannot be driven safely, the crash must be reported by the quickest means: to the city police inside a city, or to the sheriff’s office outside one (section 550.026). In San Antonio that is SAPD; in Leon Valley, Live Oak or another suburb it is that city’s police.

What to do in the hours and days after a crash

1. Photograph the scene. All the vehicles from four sides, their positions before they are moved if it is safe, the road surface, skid marks, debris, traffic lights and signs, the weather and the light. Close-ups of the other driver’s license plate and insurance card.
2. Take names. Witnesses, the other driver and passengers, the officer and the agency. A name and phone number is enough. Write down the time and the exact location: which lane, which exit, which intersection.
3. Get medical care quickly. Go to the emergency room or see a doctor within a day or two. Tell the doctor every place that hurts. A gap between the crash and the first treatment is the first thing an adjuster uses to argue that the crash did not cause your injury.
4. Report the claim to your own insurer. Your policy requires it, and your own PIP and UM/UIM coverage may pay you. Give the facts, not opinions about fault or your injuries.
5. Do not give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement. Texas law does not require it. The adjuster is gathering evidence for the insurer. Refer the call to us.
6. Keep everything. Receipts, bills, pay stubs, the tow and storage paperwork, letters from insurers and a short note each day on how you feel and what you could not do.
7. Stay off social media about the crash. Insurers look. A photograph of you at a family barbecue can be used to argue that your injuries are minor.

Getting the Texas crash report (CR-3)

When an officer investigates a crash that injures or kills someone, or damages anyone’s property to the apparent extent of $1,000 or more, the officer must write a report and file it electronically with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code section 550.062). That report is the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, form CR-3. It records the officer’s diagram, the vehicles, the drivers, the insurance, the contributing factors the officer saw and, often, a witness or two.

The report is confidential, but a person involved in the crash, the authorized representative of a person involved, a driver, a vehicle owner and certain others can buy it (section 550.065). TxDOT sells copies through its Crash Report Online Purchase System, and sends them by email after purchase. A regular copy costs $6 and a certified copy, the kind used in legal proceedings, costs $8, plus a card surcharge. TxDOT keeps crash reports for the previous 10 full calendar years plus the current year.

Two things the CR-3 does not include: dash camera and body camera video, photographs and the officer’s field notes. TxDOT says requests for those go to the investigating agency, such as SAPD or the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. They can matter as much as the report itself, and agencies do not keep everything forever. When you hire us, we get the report and request the rest.

Where San Antonio crashes happen

TxDOT counted 46,744 reportable crashes in Bexar County in 2025. In those crashes 190 people were killed and 759 suffered suspected serious injuries, and 9,470 more had suspected minor injuries. Inside the City of San Antonio alone, the same TxDOT records list 167 people killed. These figures come from TxDOT’s 2025 Crashes and Injuries by County and Cities and Towns reports, compiled from officers’ CR-3 reports as of April 7, 2026.

The calls we take point to the same roads again and again. I-35 carries traffic through downtown and northeast past Schertz toward New Braunfels and Austin. I-10 runs from the Hill Country past the Medical Center, through downtown and east toward Seguin. I-37 heads south toward Corpus Christi. Loop 410 and Loop 1604 circle the city, with heavy merging at every interchange where they meet I-10, I-35, US 281 and SH 151. Then there are the arterials where speed meets driveways and turning traffic: Bandera Road through Leon Valley toward Helotes, Fredericksburg Road, Culebra Road, Military Drive and Wurzbach Road.

Where the crash happened decides more than the police agency. It decides the county where a lawsuit is usually filed (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 15.002), and on a state highway or a city street it can bring in a government unit whose notice deadlines are much shorter than the two years that apply to everyone else.

Car wrecks

Most car crash claims turn on a few questions: who had the right of way, who was following too closely, who was distracted, and how much insurance there is. A rear-end collision usually points at the driver behind. Left turns across traffic, red-light crashes and lane changes on Loop 410 are often disputed, and that is where the evidence above matters most.

Fault is shared by percentage under Texas law. A jury can find each driver partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by your own share, and you recover nothing if your share is greater than 50 percent (Civil Practice and Remedies Code sections 33.001 and 33.012). Insurers know this, which is why an adjuster’s first questions so often try to get you to say you were going a little fast or looked away for a second.

18-wheeler and truck accidents

A crash with a tractor-trailer is a different kind of case. The injuries are usually worse, there are usually more parties, and the trucking company is governed by federal rules that become evidence. Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, a property-carrying driver may drive no more than 11 hours within a 14-hour window after 10 consecutive hours off duty, must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days (49 CFR 395.3). Every motor carrier must systematically inspect, repair and maintain its vehicles and keep records of it (49 CFR 396.3).

Those rules mean records: driver logs and electronic logging data, inspection and maintenance files, the driver’s qualification file, and the truck’s own electronic data. Trucking companies keep some of them only for a limited time, so a letter asking them to preserve the evidence goes out early. The driver, the motor carrier, the owner of the trailer, the company that loaded the cargo and a maintenance contractor can each be responsible, and each may have its own insurer.

Motorcycle accidents

Riders are often hit by drivers who say they never saw them, and they are often blamed afterward. Texas requires a helmet for every rider and passenger, but a rider at least 21 years old is excepted if they completed an approved motorcycle operator training and safety course or are covered by a health insurance plan that pays for injuries from a motorcycle collision (Transportation Code section 661.003). Insurers still raise the helmet when a rider has a head injury, to argue that part of the harm was the rider’s own responsibility. Whether that argument works depends on the injury and the evidence, and it is one of the first things we look at.

Drunk driver accidents

A crash caused by an intoxicated driver can support exemplary damages, which punish rather than compensate, when the conduct amounts to gross negligence (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 41.003). The usual cap on exemplary damages in section 41.008 does not apply to certain felonies, including intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter. A bar or restaurant that served the driver can also be responsible under the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, but only on proof that it was apparent to the server that the person was obviously intoxicated to the extent of presenting a clear danger, and that the intoxication caused the harm (section 2.02). Receipts, bar tabs and video from that night are evidence that does not last.

Pedestrian and bicycle crashes

People on foot or on a bike have no steel around them, and their injuries are usually serious. Their claims are often paid in part by their own auto insurance even though they were not in a car: PIP and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy, or on the policy of a relative in your household, can apply. When the driver who hit you leaves the scene, that coverage may be the main source of payment, which makes the report to police and the search for video even more urgent.

Uber and Lyft crashes

Texas sets special insurance rules for rideshare drivers, which the Insurance Code calls transportation network company drivers. While the driver is logged on to the app and waiting for a ride request, the policy must provide at least $50,000 for injury to each person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 for property damage (Insurance Code section 1954.052). During a prearranged ride, from acceptance to drop-off, the policy must provide at least $1,000,000 in total liability coverage for each incident (section 1954.053). If the driver’s own policy has lapsed or falls short, the company must provide the coverage from the first dollar (section 1954.054). Which tier applies depends on what the app showed at the moment of the crash, and that record comes from the company.

City vehicles, VIA buses and other government vehicles

A crash with a city truck, a county vehicle or a state vehicle is a claim under the Texas Tort Claims Act, which allows claims for injuries caused by a government employee’s negligent use of a motor vehicle (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 101.021). The deadlines are short. The City of San Antonio requires written notice within 90 days under Section 150 of its charter, and other government units are entitled to notice within six months (section 101.101). VIA Metropolitan Transit takes claims separately from the City. Damages against a government unit are capped. If a public vehicle was involved in your crash, call us before anything else.

Whose insurance pays

Several policies can be involved in one crash, and they pay in different ways:

Coverage	Whose policy	What it pays
Liability, at least 30/60/25	The at-fault driver’s	Your injuries and losses, up to the policy limit, if that driver is legally responsible (Transportation Code section 601.072)
Personal injury protection	Yours, unless rejected in writing	Medical bills and lost income from the crash, whoever was at fault, with no requirement above $2,500 per person (Insurance Code sections 1952.151 to 1952.155)
Uninsured and underinsured motorist	Yours, unless rejected in writing	What the at-fault driver owes you when they have no insurance, cannot be found or have too little (sections 1952.101 and 1952.106)
Rideshare coverage	The TNC driver’s or the company’s	At least 50/100/25 while waiting for a ride, at least $1,000,000 during a ride (sections 1954.052 and 1954.053)
Commercial and trucking policies	The motor carrier’s	Claims against the truck driver and the carrier, often with several insurers and layers

Our personal injury lawyer San Antonio page explains the Texas law behind every claim, and our Texas personal injury laws page sets out each coverage rule in detail.

What we do in the first weeks after you call

1. Listen and check the coverage. An attorney hears what happened, looks at the insurance on both sides and tells you whether we can help.
2. Get the records. The CR-3, the 911 and dispatch records where they matter, the officer’s video and photographs, and any video from businesses, buses or doorbells nearby.
3. Preserve the evidence. Letters to the other driver’s insurer, a trucking company or a business asking them to keep vehicles, data and video.
4. Take over the insurance calls. Adjusters deal with us. We open the PIP claim so your medical bills start being paid and report any UM/UIM claim.
5. Track your treatment. We collect medical records and bills as you treat, and lost pay from your employer, so nothing is missing when the claim is presented.

What comes after that, from the demand to a lawsuit in Bexar County district court and mediation, is on our personal injury attorney San Antonio page. How injuries themselves are proved is on our injury lawyer San Antonio page.