Armstrong County, TX — November 18, 2023, Raul Corral sustained injuries due to a semi-truck accident at around 12:48 p.m. along U.S. Highway 287.
According to preliminary information from authorities, the crash happened along eastbound lanes of the highway near mile marker 144, on the east side of Claude near County Road 16.
Officials say that 48-year-old Raul Corral was the driver of a Ford F-250 going eastbound on U.S. 287. Corral reportedly came to a stop in order to make a left turn off the highway. While waiting, though, a semi-trailer reportedly failed to control speed and rear-ended Corral’s pickup. Corral had incapacitating injuries as a result of the collision. Authorities recommended a charge against the semi driver for failure to control speed.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Beyond the few details above, authorities haven’t released much about what factors contributed to the crash. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a big deal considering authorities were pretty clear that they believe the truck driver messed up here. But holding someone responsible for a serious accident isn’t just about proving what happened; it’s about proving why it happened.
Let me explain why this distinction is so important. Take for example a personal injury truck wreck case I handled not long ago. That crash happened because a truck driver ran into someone after falling asleep at the wheel. Evidence showed he’d been behind the wheel for over twenty straight hours, which is very much illegal. Initially, the trucker’s employer was content enough to let their driver take the fall as a reckless individual that made a mistake on their own. In reality, though, further investigations revealed the actions of the employers themselves contributed to the accident.
It came to light that the trucker’s employer was actually incentivizing drivers to cut corners, break the rules, and otherwise do anything possible to get as much work done as possible. In other words, the employer was paying drivers to break the law. They just figured they’d risk the safety of others—including their own employees—just to help their bottom line, counting on the fact they wouldn’t get caught. Well, they found out that the risk absolutely wasn’t worth it.
So in that example, imagine if someone simply let all the blame fall on the driver. Would that driver answer for their actions? Probably. Would they get taken off the road so they couldn’t hurt anyone else? Perhaps. But meanwhile, the company that encouraged him to act recklessly would continue to do so until more people got hurt.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that happened here. My point is that these preliminary reports from authorities likely only show a small piece of the much larger picture. It’s entirely possible they’ve given more information to those affected by this crash behind the scenes so that they know they’re getting the whole story. But I’ve handled enough commercial truck wrecks to know if investigators simply moved on after finding what seemed like the easy answer, they very well may have missed other important details.
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