Austin Car Accident Lawyer

Rear-End Collisions on IH-35 and Austin Freeways

Rear-end collisions are the most common serious injury accident type on IH-35, US-183, and MoPac in Austin—and among the most frequently disputed by insurance carriers. Despite the near-universal assumption that the rear driver is at fault, carriers routinely contest liability by arguing the front driver braked suddenly, changed lanes improperly, or had malfunctioning brake lights. Wayne Wright builds the objective evidentiary record—traffic camera footage, black box data, and accident reconstruction—to counter these tactics.

Whiplash and soft tissue injuries from rear-end collisions are the most commonly undervalued injuries in Texas car accident claims. Insurance carriers use gaps in treatment, delayed symptom onset, and pre-existing condition arguments to minimize these claims. Wayne Wright documents the medical causation chain clearly and completely, connecting your injuries to the accident in a way that withstands carrier challenge at every stage of the claim.

Intersection Accidents & Failure to Yield

Left-turn crashes and failure-to-yield collisions at Austin’s signalized and unsignalized intersections are among the most common causes of serious injury in Travis County. Major intersection accident corridors include Slaughter Lane and IH-35, Ben White and South Congress, Airport Boulevard intersections along US-183, and the numerous high-volume intersections along William Cannon Drive. These crashes frequently involve disputed liability when both drivers claim they had the right of way.

Traffic camera footage, intersection surveillance video, and witness statements are the most critical evidence in disputed intersection cases—and all of it has a short preservation window. City of Austin traffic cameras and private business surveillance typically overwrite in 24 to 72 hours. Wayne Wright issues preservation demands the same day you retain us to secure this footage before it is lost permanently.

Head-On and Wrong-Way Crashes

Head-on collisions and wrong-way driver crashes on Austin freeways produce some of the most catastrophic injuries and wrongful death claims in Travis County. IH-35, MoPac, and US-183 have all seen serious wrong-way driver incidents—often involving impaired drivers entering exit ramps. These crashes frequently result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, multiple fractures, and fatalities. The at-fault driver often carries minimum policy limits that are wholly inadequate to compensate for the true scope of damages.

When the at-fault driver’s liability coverage is insufficient, Wayne Wright investigates all additional sources of recovery: your own underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, dram shop liability against establishments that over-served an intoxicated driver, and employer liability if the at-fault driver was operating a vehicle in the course of their employment. Identifying every available coverage source is a critical step that determines how much of your documented damages can actually be compensated.

Hit-and-Run Accidents in Austin

Hit-and-run accidents leave victims without a direct liability claim against an identified driver—but compensation is still available in most cases. Your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage pays for damages when the at-fault driver cannot be identified or located. The State of Texas requires insurance carriers to offer UM/UIM coverage; while you may have declined it when you purchased your policy, many Austin drivers have it without realizing its full value.

Wayne Wright investigates hit-and-run accidents to identify all available compensation sources and to pursue identification of the at-fault driver where possible. We work with Austin Police Department, APD traffic investigators, and private investigators when appropriate to locate witnesses, review traffic camera footage, and identify the responsible vehicle—steps that can convert an uninsured motorist claim into a full liability claim against an identified defendant.

Distracted Driving Accidents

Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of serious car accidents in Austin. Texas Transportation Code §545.4251 prohibits reading, writing, or sending electronic messages while driving, but enforcement is inconsistent and proving the violation in a civil claim requires specific evidence. Wayne Wright subpoenas cell phone records, obtains carrier data showing active app use at the time of impact, and coordinates with accident reconstruction experts to correlate phone activity with the accident timeline.

Proving a driver was distracted at the moment of a crash—rather than just shortly before or after—requires technical evidence that most attorneys do not pursue aggressively. That evidence makes the difference between a standard negligence claim and a gross negligence claim that may support punitive damages under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §41.003.

Drunk Driving Accident Claims

DWI car accidents in Austin may support both compensatory and punitive (exemplary) damages under Texas law. When an at-fault driver was legally intoxicated at the time of the crash—with a BAC of 0.08 or above, or impaired to any degree that affected their ability to operate a motor vehicle—Texas courts may find gross negligence, which opens the door to exemplary damages beyond the standard economic and non-economic compensation available in ordinary negligence cases.

Wayne Wright pursues the full scope of available damages in Austin drunk driving claims, including exemplary damages, dram shop claims against bars or restaurants that over-served the intoxicated driver, and claims against employers whose employees were driving company vehicles while intoxicated. The criminal case against the driver runs parallel to the civil claim—Wayne Wright monitors the criminal proceedings and uses the resulting evidence to maximum advantage in the civil case.

Multi-Vehicle Accidents & Pile-Ups

Multi-vehicle accidents on IH-35 and Austin’s major freeways present complex liability questions when multiple drivers contributed to the chain of events. Texas’s modified comparative fault system under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §33.001 means liability can be apportioned among multiple defendants—and each defendant’s share of fault directly affects how much each insurance carrier pays. Wayne Wright handles the full liability analysis for multi-vehicle crashes, ensuring every responsible party is identified and their proportionate share of damages is pursued.

Rideshare Accidents — Uber & Lyft in Austin

Austin has one of the largest per-capita rideshare markets in Texas, with Uber and Lyft seeing massive demand around the University of Texas campus, the Sixth Street and Rainey Street entertainment districts, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and major downtown venues. Rideshare accident claims require navigating Uber and Lyft’s tiered insurance structure based on driver app status at the time of the crash—each tier carrying different coverage limits and different parties responsible for coverage.

When a rideshare driver’s app is off, only the driver’s personal auto policy applies. When the app is on and the driver is waiting for a request, a reduced liability policy applies. When the driver is en route to a pickup or carrying a passenger, Uber and Lyft’s full $1 million liability policy applies. Determining app status at the exact moment of impact—and preventing the carrier from misrepresenting it—is a specific technical challenge Wayne Wright has handled in Austin rideshare cases consistently.