In a recent vehicular negligence opinion from the Texas Supreme Court, the Court addressed legal issues of proximate cause and substantial factor-to-injury in a situation where a vehicle, while driving in icy conditions, careened across an interstate highway divide and collided head-on with a vehicle traveling the other direction on the opposite side of the interstate. See Werner Enterprises, Inc. v. Blake, No. 23-0493, __ S.W.3d __ (Tex. June 27, 2025).
My law practice no longer includes any defense or prosecution of vehicular negligence claims, but I spent four years in my early career defending such lawsuits through trial and appeal. Some of the fact patterns, like those in Blake, were very difficult to compartmentalize for personal mental health and sanity purposes. But, I digress…
In this recent Texas Supreme Court opinion, the Court touched on a concept of life and trust that I’ve contemplated many times while zooming down Interstates, State Highways, and Farm-to-Market Roads:
Every driver proceeds in unspoken reliance on other drivers maintaining control of their vehicles and staying on their side of the road. Our lives are in each other’s hands every second we spend on a highway in the multi-ton steel projectiles we drive. In most cases, we are able to move about the world safely and reliably on modern highways, but that is only because we trust other drivers not to lose control of their deadly vehicular weapons and careen head-long into us. Our modern economy—indeed, our modern way of life—is built on that trust.
Blake, at pg. 24-25 of slip opinion.
All who drive in this great State of Texas or elsewhere should contemplate and appreciate the trust that each of us place on all others on the road and take deliberate action, wherever and however possible, to refrain from or to mitigate the numerous distractions that may burden our attention while behind the wheel.
Drive safely out there, folks. I trust that you will.
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