Northside, Houston, TX — March 6, 2025, two women were injured following a car accident at approximately 8:15 a.m. along the Hardy Toll Road.
According to authorities, two women ages 43 and 53 were traveling in a northbound Hyundai Elantra on the Hardy Toll Road in the vicinity north of Aldine Bender Road when the accident took place.
The cause of the accident remains unclear. Officials indicate that, for reasons yet to be confirmed, a side-swipe collision took place between the Elantra and a northbound Lexus. The 53-year-old woman—who had been a passenger in the Elantra—reportedly sustained serious injuries over the course of the accident. The other woman suffered minor injuries, as well, according to reports. It does not appear that anyone from the Lexus was harmed. Additional details pertaining to this incident—including the identities of the victims—are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When I read about crashes like this, especially those involving serious injuries in a sideswipe collision, I immediately begin thinking about the questions that need to be answered to determine how it happened and why. Sideswipe crashes are often considered minor, but that perception changes dramatically when someone is seriously hurt. It’s precisely in situations like this that we need to ask three essential questions to get to the bottom of what really happened.
The first question is whether authorities conducted a thorough investigation of the crash. In a sideswipe, determining which vehicle left its lane—or whether both did—is critical. Did the vehicles drift into each other while traveling side-by-side? Did one vehicle attempt an unsafe lane change? To understand this, investigators need to document physical evidence like scrape marks, debris location, and the damage patterns on each vehicle. Witness statements and video from nearby tollway cameras can also shed light on how the collision occurred. Without these pieces, the official version of events may rest on incomplete or incorrect assumptions.
The second question is whether anyone has examined the possibility of a vehicle defect. While it’s easy to assume human error caused the crash, steering or lane-keeping system failures are not unheard of—especially in vehicles equipped with semi-autonomous driver assist features. A malfunctioning blind spot monitor or sudden power steering failure could cause a vehicle to drift or change lanes without warning. If those systems are defective or improperly calibrated, they may have contributed to the crash. That kind of defect can only be uncovered through a detailed inspection of the vehicles, and that requires preserving them long enough for an expert to examine them.
Finally, has all relevant electronic data been collected? Event data recorders—sometimes called “black boxes”—can show vehicle speed, steering inputs, and whether the driver signaled a lane change. In newer vehicles, data from driver assistance systems or GPS logs can show whether the car was actively controlling lane position or braking. Cell phone records may also be relevant if distraction played a role. Without recovering this data quickly, it can be lost or overwritten, which can make it much harder to determine what truly happened.
At the end of the day, answering these questions could be essential to understanding what really happened and why. A thorough examination of all three of these issues—including the quality of police investigations, possible vehicle defects, and electronic data—is the least that can be done to ensure that those affected by the crash receive the clarity they deserve.
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