Car Accidents in Lubbock: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works

Federal fatal-crash data comes from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which covers every crash on a U.S. public road where someone dies within 30 days of the crash and records details such as the time, the lighting and the first thing struck. The 2023 file assigns 34 fatal crashes to Lubbock, all in Lubbock County and all on roads classified as urban, and those crashes killed 39 people. Because deaths outnumber crashes by 5, at least one crash took more than one life. Clear weather was recorded in 24 crashes, cloudy skies in 8 and rain in 2.

Timing is the strongest pattern. Twenty crashes, about 59 percent, were logged between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., and the other 14 between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. By light condition, 26 happened after dark, 17 of them on lighted roads and 9 on unlit ones, while 7 happened in daylight and 1 at dawn. The weekend stood out as well: Sunday had 9 fatal crashes and Saturday 8, half the year's total between them, while Monday had just 1. April and June tied for the most of any month, with 6 each.

Looking at how each crash began, which FARS codes as the first harmful event, only 11 started with two moving vehicles colliding: 7 angle crashes, 2 rear-end and 2 head-on. In 9 crashes, the first person or thing hit was a pedestrian, and no other crash involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other non-motorist. The remaining 14 started when a vehicle struck a curb (5), a guardrail face or end (3), a utility pole or light support (2), a concrete barrier (1) or a parked vehicle (1), or when a vehicle overturned (2).

Sorted by the federal road classification, the 34 crashes break down as 11 on principal arterials other than freeways, 9 on minor arterials, 5 on freeways and expressways other than interstates, 4 on major collectors, 3 on local streets and 2 on interstates. By location, 15 were at or related to an intersection and 14 away from any junction, with 2 related to an entrance or exit ramp and 1 each on the through roadway, at another spot in an interchange area and at a driveway-related location. Eighteen of the 34 crashes occurred on the roads listed below; the remaining 16 happened on roads not shown here.

In the federal file, Texas records some of these highways several ways, adding a street or freeway name, listing a frontage road separately or using the number alone, so the totals below combine entries that share a highway number; other variants with a single crash may not appear. Because nearly every count is between 1 and 3, a single crash can reorder the list, and heavy traffic alone pushes a road's count up. Lubbock's 2023 fatal crashes by road were:

• US-84, 5 fatal crashes: 2 coded as US-84/Avenue Q, 2 as US-84 alone and 1 as US-84/Slaton Highway.
• SR-289, 3: 2 coded to its frontage road and 1 to SR-289 Loop.
• SR-114, 3: 2 coded as SR-114/19th Street and 1 as SR-114 alone.
• US-82/Marsha Sharp Freeway, 2.
• University Avenue, 2.
• Milwaukee Avenue, 34th Street and 57th Street, 1 each.

Times and first events say nothing about cause, and this article's data has no measures of alcohol, speed or drowsiness. Late-night and weekend crashes are often associated with impairment, fatigue and higher speeds on lightly traveled roads, and crashes in which a vehicle runs into a curb, guardrail or pole are commonly linked to the same factors, along with distraction or a sudden swerve. Any of these may lie behind Lubbock's pattern, but the counts cannot assign a cause to a particular crash.

For a claim, a crash that did not begin with two moving vehicles raises a different first question: who other than the injured person may be at fault? When a driver loses control and a passenger is hurt, the passenger's claim usually runs against the driver's own liability coverage, even if the driver is a friend or relative. Insurers sometimes argue that a passenger shares responsibility, for example by riding with a driver the passenger knew was impaired, and under Texas's rule any share of fault assigned to the passenger reduces the award.

Some single-vehicle crashes have a cause that drove away. When a driver leaves the road to escape a car drifting into their lane, the drifting driver may be responsible even without contact, if that driver can be identified. When no one can be found, a claim under the injured person's own uninsured motorist coverage depends on the policy's wording and on proof such as an independent witness. Defective tires, steering or road conditions can bring a manufacturer or a public body into the claim, and notice to a governmental unit is due within six months, or sooner under some city charters.

Suppose you were a passenger in a friend's car heading home after 1 a.m. on a Sunday when the driver, going too fast, misjudged a turn, struck a curb and rolled the car. You broke your leg and needed two surgeries, ran up $85,000 in medical bills and missed five months of work, losing $20,000 in wages. Your friend's policy carried Texas's minimum liability limits, $30,000 per injured person, and you had an auto policy of your own at home.

Because you did nothing to cause the crash, fault was not the main obstacle, and the friend's insurer accepted that its driver was responsible. It did ask whether you knew the driver had been drinking, which you did not, and statements from people who were with you that evening supported that. Assume your losses, including pain and suffering, were valued at $160,000. The liability policy would pay at most $30,000, leaving a gap of $130,000 that the at-fault driver's insurance could not reach.

That gap is where your own policy can matter. Underinsured motorist coverage, if you carry it, can pay up to its limits once the at-fault driver's coverage is used up, and medical payments coverage can help with bills while the claim is pending. Health insurance may also pay for treatment. This scenario is made up from start to finish, and an attorney would need the real records to judge any actual claim.

Late-night crashes tend to leave fewer witnesses and less light for photographs, so the first hours and days matter for evidence. Drivers, passengers and people on foot can all follow the steps below, and doing so commits you to nothing about whether to pursue a claim. If you are in the hospital, a relative or friend can handle several of them for you.

• Report the crash to police at the scene and keep the case number; on a state highway the responding agency may be the Texas Department of Public Safety rather than the Lubbock Police Department.
• Take pictures of scrape marks on curbs, damaged guardrails or poles, and the final resting place of the car, if you can do so safely.
• Write down who was driving, who else was in each vehicle and who saw the crash, with phone numbers, while memories are fresh.
• Note who was with the driver earlier that evening; they may know whether the driver was tired or impaired.
• Footage from gas stations and other late-night businesses may show the vehicle before the crash, so request it quickly.
• Have injuries examined even if they seem minor; pain from a rollover or curb strike can surface days later.
• Find the uninsured, underinsured and medical payments coverage on your own policy and on the policy of the vehicle you were in.
• Ask early whether a road condition or a government vehicle contributed, because Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101 requires notice within six months and some city charters require it sooner.

Texas decides who pays by fault. Whoever caused the crash is responsible for the harm, and that driver's liability insurer is normally the one that pays; in no-fault states such as Michigan, New Jersey and New York, the injured person's own personal injury protection pays first. A Texas liability policy must provide at least $30,000 for one person's injuries and $60,000 for all injuries in a crash, plus $25,000 for property damage. When several people are hurt in one crash, they may have to share the per-crash limit, which can leave each with less than the per-person figure.

The general deadline for an injury lawsuit is two years from the crash under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003, and families bringing a wrongful death claim have two years from the date of death under § 16.003(b). A claim against a governmental unit needs notice within six months under § 101.101, and some city charters shorten that period. Suits over serious crash injuries generally go to District Court. In Tennessee, by comparison, most injury claims must be filed within one year.

Texas's fault rule is modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar. An injured person recovers if their share of fault is 50 percent or less, and the award drops by that share, so someone 25 percent at fault keeps 75 percent of their damages. Compared with contributory negligence, still the rule in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, Texas is more lenient; compared with California's pure comparative system, which never bars recovery outright, it is stricter. For a passenger, fault is usually a smaller issue; for a driver who left the road, it can be the central one.

Late-night and weekend crashes, most of them starting with something other than two moving vehicles colliding, dominate Lubbock's 2023 record. Texas law then supplies the framework: two years to sue in most cases, a 51 percent fault bar, minimum coverage of $30,000 per person and six months' notice for claims against governmental units. The early questions are who besides the injured person may share fault, which policies apply, including the one on the vehicle you were riding in, and whether a city, county or state agency bears any responsibility. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, usually taking a percentage of any recovery as their fee.

Ask Legal Matters is a lead-generation service, not a law firm, offering a free claim-review request service. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Texas, and whether a claim exists, or what it may be worth, can be judged only after an attorney evaluates the facts. Drivers, passengers and pedestrians hurt in a Lubbock crash can request a free claim review.

• Lubbock, Texas: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• Car Accidents in Fort Worth: 2023 Data and How a Claim Works
• Car Accidents in Dallas: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works
• Car Accidents in Austin: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works
• US Cities With the Most Fatal Car Accidents in 2023 (NHTSA Data)
• Child Injured in a Car Accident: How the Claim Works
• Bus Accident Claim: City, School and Charter Buses Differ

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.