Midland Andrews Highway Crash: Your Legal Rights After an Intersection Accident on One of West Texas’s Busiest Corridors
If you are reading this because you were on Andrews Highway on April 7, 2026 — whether you drove through that dark intersection at West Golf Course Road after the signal was knocked out, or you were involved in the head-on collision in the 3600 block, or someone you love was — you are probably sitting with questions that have not been answered yet. The news said the signal is working again. What it did not tell you is what happens to the evidence, what your rights are if you are hurt, and why the next few days matter more than most people realize.
We are Attorney911. We handle car accident and catastrophic-injury cases across Texas, and we are writing this for one person: you, at your kitchen table in Midland, trying to figure out whether what happened to you on Andrews Highway is something you need to take seriously. The answer is yes — and not because a lawyer wants you to be afraid. Because the proof of what happened on that road is disappearing right now, and the insurance adjuster who already has your phone number is counting on you not knowing that.
What Happened on Andrews Highway on April 7, 2026
On Tuesday, April 7, a Ford passenger vehicle left the roadway at the intersection of Andrews Highway and West Golf Course Road, near Alpine Street in Midland, and crashed into the traffic signal control box — the steel cabinet on the ground that houses the electronics running the intersection’s lights. The impact sheared the cabinet from its base and knocked out the traffic signals for the entire intersection. City of Midland crews deployed temporary stop signs while repairs were underway, and the signal was reactivated by the following day.
That same day, a separate two-vehicle head-on collision was reported in the 3600 block of Andrews Highway — the central commercial stretch of the corridor where lane configurations and driveway density create elevated crossover risk. These are two distinct incidents on the same road, on the same day, and the fact that both happened on Andrews Highway is not a coincidence. It is a pattern.
No injuries, fatalities, or identifying information about any driver were reported in the coverage of either crash. But the absence of injuries in a news article does not mean no one was hurt. It means no one confirmed injuries to the reporter before the story went to press. Soft-tissue injuries, concussive symptoms, and even fractures from a head-on collision often do not surface for 24 to 72 hours — sometimes longer. If you walked away from either crash thinking you were fine, the medicine may disagree with you, and it will tell you so in its own time.
Why Andrews Highway Is a High-Risk Corridor in Midland
Andrews Highway is one of the major north-south arterial corridors running through Midland, carrying heavy commercial, oilfield-service, and commuter traffic through the heart of the Permian Basin. If you live in Midland, you know this road. You know the way oilfield trucks, service vehicles, and daily commuters stack up on it at shift change. You know that the western portion of Midland’s urbanized grid — where the intersection with West Golf Course Road sits — has seen accelerated residential and retail development that has increased traffic volume and conflict points at a rate the road was not originally designed to absorb.
Midland’s oil-boom-driven growth has strained road infrastructure for years, and Andrews Highway in particular has been the subject of repeated safety concerns regarding intersection design, signal timing, and high-speed approaches. The 3600 block, where the separate head-on collision occurred, is in the central commercial stretch where lane configurations and dense driveway access points create elevated crossover risk — the exact conditions that produce a vehicle crossing into oncoming traffic.
Midland County and the Texas Department of Transportation share maintenance jurisdiction over segments of this corridor, which means the question of who is responsible for signal upkeep, intersection design, and traffic-control response on any given stretch is a fact-specific inquiry. That matters. It matters because if a disabled signal contributed to a collision before repairs were completed, the question of which governmental entity had the duty to maintain that signal — and whether it met that duty — is not simple. It is the kind of question that has to be answered with records, not assumptions.
If you were hurt on Andrews Highway, the road itself is part of your case. The corridor’s design, its traffic volume, its history of crashes, and the way it is maintained are all evidence — and they are evidence that a generalist would never think to pull.
Who Can Be Held Responsible After an Andrews Highway Crash
Liability in a crash like this is never one-dimensional. Here is the map of who might answer for what happened on April 7.
The driver who left the roadway and struck the signal cabinet. A passenger vehicle does not depart the roadway and shear a steel traffic-control cabinet from its base without something going wrong — speed, distraction, impairment, a medical event, or a combination. The driver’s failure to maintain control of the vehicle is the starting point. The questions an investigation answers: How fast was the Ford traveling? Was the driver on a phone? Was there a blood-alcohol or toxicology result? Had the driver been cited before? The vehicle’s event data recorder — the black box — captures speed, braking, steering input, and impact force in the seconds before the crash. That data is the single most important piece of evidence in determining driver negligence, and it is sitting in a vehicle that may already be in a tow yard or salvage facility.
The at-fault driver in the 3600-block head-on collision. A two-vehicle head-on collision on a corridor like Andrews Highway strongly suggests that at least one driver crossed the centerline or operated with negligence. Head-on collisions do not happen when both drivers stay in their lane. The at-fault driver — the one who crossed over — would be liable for resulting injuries to the other party. The police crash report, when it becomes available, will identify the drivers, document road conditions, note any citations issued, and record the responding officer’s assessment. Witness statements, if any exist, fade within days.
The City of Midland — potential municipal liability. If the disabled traffic signal at Andrews Highway and West Golf Course Road contributed to a subsequent intersection collision before repairs were completed, a claim against the City of Midland under the Texas Tort Claims Act could be pursued. The city’s prompt installation of temporary stop signs appears to be reasonable mitigation — and the city will argue exactly that. But whether the stop signs were placed fast enough, whether they were visible enough, whether the intersection was safe during the gap between the signal outage and the sign deployment — those are factual questions that turn on the city’s own dispatch logs, work orders, and repair records. The Texas Tort Claims Act waives governmental immunity for certain negligent operation of motor vehicles and premises defects, but it imposes statutory damage caps and a notice-of-claim requirement that must be strictly observed. That notice deadline is shorter than the two-year statute of limitations — meaning if you wait, you may lose the right to pursue the city even while your right to pursue the at-fault driver survives.
The critical point: there may be more than one responsible party. A generalist files against the obvious one. We map every entity whose conduct contributed to the harm — because the coverage that matters may sit behind the party you would never think to name.
Texas Law After a Car Accident: What Actually Protects You
Texas law gives you real tools after a crash on Andrews Highway. But it also sets rules that can end your case if you do not know them. Here is what governs.
The statute of limitations. Texas gives you two years from the date of the incident to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. That clock started on April 7, 2026. Miss it and the case is over — no matter how strong it is, no matter how badly you were hurt. Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. Medical treatment takes months. Insurance negotiations drag on. Evidence disappears. The day you call a lawyer is the day that clock starts working for you instead of against you.
Modified comparative negligence — the 51% bar. Texas does not say you must have done nothing wrong to recover. It says your own share of fault reduces your recovery, and if you are 51% or more at fault, you are barred entirely.
Texas applies a modified comparative negligence standard with a 51% bar, meaning a plaintiff who is 51% or more at fault is entirely barred from recovery and a plaintiff below that threshold has damages reduced by their percentage of fault.
This is the rule the insurance adjuster works hardest to exploit. Every percentage point of fault they pin on you is money off their payout. If they can push you to 51%, they pay nothing. This is why the recorded statement call exists — to get you to say “I might have been going a little fast” or “I didn’t see the stop sign right away” so they can build a comparative-fault argument against you. If you were partially at fault in the crash, you need to understand exactly how that affects your case before you speak to anyone from the insurance company.
The Texas Tort Claims Act. Claims against the City of Midland fall under a separate legal framework — the Texas Tort Claims Act — which waives governmental immunity only in narrow circumstances and imposes statutory damage caps that can be far lower than what a serious injury is worth. The Act also requires formal notice of the claim within a statutory window that is shorter than the two-year limitations period. If you were injured at the Andrews Highway intersection during the period the signal was disabled, this notice deadline may already be running. We confirm the current deadline for your specific claim and ensure the notice is filed correctly and on time.
Punitive damages. Texas does not impose general noneconomic damage caps in standard motor-vehicle negligence cases, which means a jury can award the full measure of pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss-of-quality-of-life damages your injuries warrant. Punitive damages — designed to punish and deter — are governed by statutory standards requiring clear and convincing evidence of gross negligence. Intoxication, extreme speed, or prior similar conduct can support a punitive damages claim. The reported facts do not establish gross negligence at this stage, but discovery targets — cell-phone records, toxicology results, prior driving history — can develop the theory if the facts support it.
If your case is filed in Midland County, the jury that decides it will be drawn from your community — people who know Andrews Highway, who understand the oil industry and the traffic it generates, and who can appreciate the real economic loss a crash imposes on a working family. That home-field advantage is real. Our car accident practice is built to use it.
The Evidence Clock: What Proof Exists and How Fast It Disappears
This is the section that matters most if you are reading this within days of April 7. The proof of what happened on Andrews Highway is on a timer, and the timer is shorter than you think.
The Ford’s event data recorder (EDR / black box). The vehicle that struck the signal cabinet carries a recorder that, by federal definition, captures pre-crash speed, brake application, throttle position, steering input, seatbelt status, and the change in velocity at impact. If the airbags deployed, federal law requires the manufacturer to lock that recording so it cannot be overwritten. If the airbags did not deploy, the recording can be erased the next time the vehicle is driven hard or the ignition cycles. The vehicle may already be in a tow yard or salvage facility — and if it is declared a total loss, it can be crushed within weeks. The EDR data is the difference between proving the driver was speeding and having no proof at all. It must be imaged by a trained forensic technician with the right equipment before the vehicle disappears.
Traffic signal cabinet and base damage documentation. The damaged cabinet and its sheared base demonstrate impact angle, force, and direction — evidence relevant to reconstructing the crash and to any theory about cabinet placement or crashworthiness. City crews have already repaired the signal. The damaged cabinet may be in municipal storage, or it may have been discarded. A preservation demand to the City of Midland is needed within days — not months — before the physical evidence is gone.
City of Midland repair records and work orders. The city’s own dispatch logs, work orders, and repair timeline establish when the outage was reported, how quickly crews responded, when temporary stop signs were deployed, and when the signal was reactivated. These records are obtainable through a Texas Public Information Act request, but municipal records retention schedules vary, and the city is not required to hold records indefinitely. Pull them promptly.
Police crash reports for both incidents. The Midland Police Department crash reports for both the signal-cabinet collision and the 3600-block head-on collision will identify drivers, witnesses, road conditions, citations issued, and the responding officer’s narrative assessment. Midland PD reports are typically available within 5 to 10 business days. Witness statements — if any were taken at the scene — fade quickly. People forget details, move, and become harder to locate. The report is foundational to any negligence claim, and it is the first document we pull.
Surveillance and dashcam footage from nearby businesses. Andrews Highway is a commercial corridor. Businesses along the route — gas stations, retail centers, restaurants — may have exterior cameras that captured the Ford’s approach speed, its lane departure, and the impact with the signal cabinet. Cameras near the 3600 block may have captured the head-on collision. Private business CCTV systems commonly overwrite on 7-to-30-day cycles. Every day that passes without a preservation demand to those businesses is a day closer to the footage being gone forever. The canvass of commercial properties near both scenes needs to happen within one week.
Here is what the clock looks like in practice: the fastest-dying evidence — the business surveillance footage — may already be gone if more than 30 days have passed. The EDR data may be lost if the vehicle has been crushed. The police report is coming but the witnesses are fading. The city’s repair records are still pullable but will not stay that way indefinitely. The preservation letter that freezes all of this goes out the day you call — not the day the insurance company decides to make an offer, not the day you finish treatment, not the day you “feel ready.” The evidence does not wait for you to feel ready.
The Insurance Adjuster’s Playbook: What They Will Try and How to Counter Each Move
If you were involved in either crash on Andrews Highway, someone from an insurance company has probably already called you. They sounded friendly. They asked how you were feeling. They may have asked you to describe what happened “just so we can get it on record.” Here is what is actually happening — and how to counter each play. What you should never say to an insurance adjuster is a conversation worth having before you pick up that phone again.
Play 1: The friendly recorded statement. The adjuster calls within days of the crash and asks you to “just tell us what happened” on a recording. This sounds reasonable. It is not. The recording is engineered to get you to say things that can be quoted against you later — “I’m feeling okay,” “I didn’t see the signal was out,” “I might have been going a little fast.” Every one of those phrases becomes a tool for the comparative-fault defense. The counter: Do not give a recorded statement without counsel. You are not required to. The adjuster’s request is not a legal obligation — it is a litigation strategy dressed as customer service.
Play 2: The fast settlement check. A check arrives quickly — sometimes within weeks — with a release form printed on the back or attached. The amount seems reasonable for a “minor” crash. The catch: the release settles your entire claim, including injuries you have not been diagnosed with yet. If your neck pain turns out to be a herniated disc requiring surgery three months from now, you have already signed away your right to recover for it. The counter: Never sign a release before your medical picture is complete. A quick check is not generosity. It is a calculated bet that your real injuries have not surfaced yet.
Play 3: The “you were partly at fault” argument. The adjuster tells you that because you were driving through an intersection with a disabled signal, or because you did not stop at the temporary stop sign, or because you were “following too closely,” you share responsibility for the crash. Every percentage point they assign to you is money off their payout, and if they can push you past 51%, they pay nothing. The counter: Texas’s 51% bar means fault allocation is a fight worth having. Do not accept the adjuster’s characterization of your share of fault. That determination belongs to a jury — or to a negotiation between lawyers who know what a Midland County jury would actually do with the facts.
Play 4: The insurance medical examination (IME). The insurer sends you to a doctor they pick — a doctor who earns a significant portion of their income examining plaintiffs for insurance companies. The IME report will almost certainly minimize your injuries or attribute them to a pre-existing condition. The counter: You have the right to your own treating physician. Your medical records — built from real treatment, not a single defensive examination — are the proof that counters the IME. The gap between your doctor’s findings and the IME doctor’s findings is where the case is won.
Play 5: Social media surveillance. The adjuster or their investigator monitors your social media accounts. A photo of you at a barbecue, a comment about feeling “fine,” a check-in at a gym — all become “evidence” that you are not as injured as you claim. The counter: Set your accounts to private. Do not post about the crash, your injuries, your activities, or your medical appointments. Do not discuss the case online. Assume everything you post will be screenshot and shown to a jury.
What Your Case Is Actually Worth
We are going to be honest with you about value, because honesty about value is the thing that separates a lawyer who protects you from one who sells you.
As of the information available, no injuries have been documented from either crash on Andrews Highway on April 7. That means the current case value, based on the reported facts alone, is zero. A lawyer who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you.
But the reported facts are not the complete facts. If you were in either crash and have not yet been medically evaluated, injuries you have not yet identified may change the picture entirely. Here is what the value landscape looks like depending on what the medical records show.
Soft-tissue and minor injuries: If minor-to-moderate injuries are discovered through follow-up evaluation — whiplash, cervical or lumbar strain, minor fractures, concussive symptoms — these cases in Midland County typically resolve in the $15,000 to $75,000 range, depending on treatment duration, medical costs, and the clarity of the liability evidence.
Serious injuries from the head-on collision: The separate two-vehicle head-on collision in the 3600 block carries a higher inherent injury severity potential. Head-on impacts at corridor speeds commonly produce traumatic brain injury, spinal trauma, thoracic injury, and fracture patterns. If serious injuries are confirmed through medical records and imaging, the case could reach $250,000 or more, depending on the coverage available and the strength of the liability proof.
Municipal liability against the City of Midland: If the disabled signal contributed to a collision before repairs were completed, a claim under the Texas Tort Claims Act would be subject to statutory damage caps and would face strong immunity defenses — particularly given the city’s apparent prompt deployment of temporary stop signs. The city’s mitigation response will be the central liability battleground.
The insurance coverage ladder. The at-fault driver may carry only Texas’s legal minimum insurance coverage — and a single night in an emergency room can consume it. But if the at-fault driver carries higher limits, or if an umbrella or excess policy sits above the primary coverage, the same crash can reach layers far above the minimum. Knowing which policies exist, in what order they pay, and what the real coverage ceiling is — that is half the value of the case. How much your personal injury case is worth is not a number a lawyer can give you on day one. It is a number built from the medical records, the liability evidence, and the coverage architecture — all of which take time to assemble.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. What we can tell you is that the firm has recovered more than $50 million in aggregate for injured clients, and every one of those cases started with the same two questions: what is the proof, and what is the coverage? The answer to both is what builds the number.
Delayed Injuries: Why “I Feel Fine” Is the Most Dangerous Phrase After a Crash
The human body is not designed to absorb the forces of a motor-vehicle collision and report the damage accurately at the scene. Adrenaline — the chemical your body releases in the moments after impact — masks pain. You can walk away from a crash feeling completely fine and wake up the next morning unable to turn your head. You can tell the responding officer “I’m not hurt” and discover three days later that you have a concussion.
Here is what the medicine actually says about delayed symptoms.
Soft-tissue injuries (whiplash, cervical and lumbar strain). The sudden acceleration-deceleration forces of a collision stretch and tear muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the neck and back. Inflammation builds over hours, not seconds. Pain that was absent at the scene can become severe by the next morning — and can persist for weeks or months if untreated. Whether a headache after a crash is normal is one of the most common questions we hear, and the answer is: it can be — but it can also be the first sign of something more serious.
Concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. You do not have to hit your head to sustain a brain injury. The rapid deceleration of a crash causes the brain to shift inside the skull, producing a concussion without any visible impact. A “mild” traumatic brain injury can present with a perfectly normal CT scan — the damage is microscopic tearing of nerve fibers that standard imaging was never designed to see. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, memory gaps, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and sleep disturbance. These symptoms can appear 24 to 72 hours after impact. The medical standard is clear: loss of consciousness is not required to diagnose a brain injury. Feeling dazed, confused, or unable to remember the moments around the crash is enough.
Head-on collision injury patterns. The separate two-vehicle head-on collision in the 3600 block of Andrews Highway carries a fundamentally different injury profile than the signal-cabinet crash. Head-on impacts at corridor speeds deliver massive deceleration forces — forces that produce traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, thoracic trauma (rib fractures, lung contusions, cardiac injury), pelvic and long-bone fractures, and internal organ damage. The delta-V — the change in velocity experienced by the vehicle’s occupants — is the single best predictor of injury severity, and in a head-on collision, it can be devastating even at moderate speeds.
The West Texas trauma-distance reality. If you were seriously injured on Andrews Highway, the level of trauma care available locally and the distance to a Level I trauma center matters — both to your survival and to your case. Midland is in the Permian Basin, hours from the nearest Level I trauma center. For a catastrophic injury, air-medical transport may have been necessary. Those flight hours, those transfer delays, and the gap between the crash and definitive trauma care are part of the damages picture — and they are part of the story a jury in Midland County will understand, because they live in the same geography.
The single most important medical step is this: get evaluated. Not next week. Not when you “have time.” Now. A medical record built from a contemporaneous examination is the proof that connects your injuries to the crash. A record built from an exam three months later invites the defense argument that something else caused the injury in between. The gap between the crash and the doctor is the gap the defense exploits.
The First 72 Hours: What to Do and What to Refuse
If you were on Andrews Highway on April 7 — in either crash — here is what the first 72 hours should look like.
Hour 1 to 24: Medical first. Go to an emergency room or an urgent care clinic. Tell them exactly what happened — which crash, what forces, what you felt. Let them examine you, image what needs imaging, and document everything. Do not minimize. Do not say “I’m fine” to the doctor any more than you should say it to the adjuster. If you are experiencing headaches, dizziness, neck pain, back pain, numbness, vision changes, confusion, or anything that was not present before the crash, say so. The medical record is being built from the moment you walk in.
Hour 24 to 48: Documentation. Photograph everything — your vehicle, the scene, any visible injuries, any bruises that develop over the following days. Keep a daily symptom journal: what hurts, when it started, how it affects your daily activities. Save every medical bill, every pharmacy receipt, every co-pay. If you missed work, document the lost wages. What to do after a car accident is not a checklist you follow once — it is a discipline you maintain from the moment of impact through the resolution of your case.
Hour 48 to 72: Evidence hold. This is where a lawyer’s work begins. The preservation letter goes out — to the at-fault driver’s insurance company (freeze the vehicle, image the EDR, preserve all telematics), to the City of Midland (preserve the damaged signal cabinet, all repair records, dispatch logs, and work orders), and to every business along Andrews Highway near both crash scenes (preserve all CCTV footage from April 7). Every one of these letters is a demand that evidence be saved before it is legally destroyed. Every day you wait is a day the evidence decays.
What to refuse. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster — yours or theirs — without speaking to a lawyer first. Do not sign a release of any kind. Do not accept a settlement check. Do not post about the crash on social media. Do not discuss the case with anyone except your lawyer and your doctor. Do not let the insurance company choose your doctor. Do not assume the adjuster is on your side — their job is to close your file for the smallest amount possible, and every friendly gesture is calibrated toward that goal.
How We Build a Case Like This
Here is the walk from day one to resolution — the way it actually happens, not the brochure version.
Week one: preservation. The day you call, the letters go out. The vehicle is located and its EDR is imaged before it can be crushed. The city is put on notice to preserve the signal cabinet and all records. The businesses along Andrews Highway are canvassed for footage. The police crash report is requested. Every piece of perishable evidence is frozen before it can disappear.
Weeks two through four: records and medical. Your medical treatment is underway and we are tracking every record. The police report arrives. We pull the at-fault driver’s insurance declarations page to identify every layer of coverage. We send a Texas Public Information Act request to the City of Midland for the repair records, dispatch logs, and work orders related to the signal outage. If the case involves a commercial vehicle or an oilfield-service truck — common on Andrews Highway — we pull the FMCSA SAFER records and the carrier’s federal safety profile.
Months one through three: evidence development. If injuries are confirmed, we retain the experts the case demands — an accident reconstruction engineer to analyze the EDR data and the scene evidence, a biomechanical expert to correlate the impact forces with your documented injuries, and treating specialists whose medical opinions will carry weight at trial. Cell-phone records are subpoenaed if distraction is suspected. Toxicology results are obtained if impairment is a factor. The at-fault driver’s prior driving record and citation history are pulled.
Months three through six: discovery and depositions. If the case is in litigation, the defense is compelled to produce its records — the driver’s personnel file if a commercial carrier is involved, the city’s internal communications about the signal outage, the insurance adjuster’s claim file. The at-fault driver is deposed under oath. The safety director or city employee responsible for signal maintenance is deposed. The questions are precise: what did you know, when did you know it, and what did you do about it?
Resolution. The number at the end is built from all of it — the medical records, the expert opinions, the liability evidence, the coverage architecture, and the willingness to take the case to a Midland County jury if the other side will not pay what the case is worth. Most cases settle. Ours settle from a position of preparation, not desperation — because the other side knows we have the evidence, the experts, and the courtroom readiness to try the case if they will not.
Why This Firm
Ralph Manginello has spent 27-plus years in Texas courtrooms, including federal court. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer, which means he learned early that the story is only as good as the facts you can prove — and he built a practice around proving them. Ralph leads the firm’s trial work, and his name on a filing tells the other side that the case has been investigated, preserved, and prepared by someone who knows what a courtroom looks like from the inside.
Lupe Peña spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims exactly like yours. He knows how the claim is valued in the carrier’s internal system, how the reserve is set in the first 48 hours before the real injuries are diagnosed, how the recorded-statement call is engineered, and how the IME doctor is selected. He now uses that inside knowledge for injured clients. Lupe is fluent in Spanish and conducts full consultations in Spanish without an interpreter — because the right to understand your own case should never depend on the language you pray in.
We work on contingency. That means 33.33% before trial and 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. The first call costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. What it does is start the clock working for you — the preservation letter, the evidence hold, the medical record — instead of against you.
We serve families in English and in Spanish. Hablamos Español. If someone you love was hurt on Andrews Highway and they are more comfortable in Spanish, they can call us and speak directly to an attorney who will understand every word.
Frequently Asked Questions
I drove through the Andrews Highway intersection after the signal was knocked out and got into a different crash. Can I sue the city?
Potentially, yes. If the City of Midland’s disabled traffic signal contributed to your collision — and if the city did not deploy temporary traffic control measures quickly enough or visibly enough under the standards governing traffic control devices — you may have a claim under the Texas Tort Claims Act. But the Act imposes a notice-of-claim deadline that is shorter than the two-year statute of limitations, and the city’s apparent prompt deployment of stop signs will be its primary defense. The repair records, dispatch logs, and work orders are the evidence that answers whether the city met its duty. Those records need to be pulled and the notice needs to be filed within the statutory window — which means calling a lawyer now, not later.
I was in the head-on collision in the 3600 block. I felt fine at the scene but now my neck and back hurt. Is it too late to do anything?
It is not too late. Delayed symptoms are the normal presentation, not the exception — soft-tissue inflammation builds over hours, and concussive symptoms can appear 24 to 72 hours after impact. But the gap between the crash and your first medical evaluation is the gap the insurance company will exploit. Go to a doctor now. Tell them which crash you were in and what you are feeling. The medical record from that visit is what connects your symptoms to the collision. Then call a lawyer — because the at-fault driver’s vehicle, the EDR data, and the surveillance footage from businesses along the 3600 block are all on a destruction clock.
The insurance adjuster already called me and I gave a recorded statement. Did I ruin my case?
You did not ruin it, but you made it harder. The recorded statement is designed to extract phrases the defense can use — “I’m feeling okay,” “I didn’t see the other car,” “I might have been distracted.” What matters now is what happens next. Stop talking to the adjuster. Do not give a second statement. Call a lawyer who can assess what was said, build the medical and liability evidence that contradicts any damaging admissions, and take control of the communication. One recorded statement is a setback. It is not a death sentence for the case.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit after a crash on Andrews Highway?
Texas gives you two years from the date of the incident to file a personal injury lawsuit. For the April 7 crashes, that deadline runs through April 7, 2028. But if your claim involves the City of Midland — for example, because the disabled signal contributed to your crash — the Texas Tort Claims Act imposes a separate notice-of-claim deadline that is significantly shorter. And regardless of the legal deadline, the evidence that wins your case — the EDR data, the surveillance footage, the witness statements — disappears on a timeline measured in days and weeks, not years. The statute of limitations is the backstop. The evidence clock is the real deadline.
I was the driver who hit the signal cabinet. Am I at fault?
A vehicle leaving the roadway and striking a fixed object creates a prima facie case of negligence for failure to maintain control. But prima facie is not the end of the analysis. Was there a mechanical failure? A medical event? A road-design defect at the intersection? Did another vehicle force you off the road? The EDR data, the vehicle inspection, and the scene evidence are what answer these questions. If you were the driver and you were injured, you still have rights — and if another party’s conduct contributed to the roadway departure, you may have a claim against them. Do not assume you are 100% at fault until the evidence has been examined.
There were no injuries reported in the news. Does that mean I do not have a case?
The absence of injuries in a news article means the reporter did not confirm injuries before publication. It does not mean no one was hurt. Soft-tissue injuries, concussions, and even fractures frequently go undetected at the scene because adrenaline masks pain and the symptoms develop over the following days. If you were in either crash and have not been medically evaluated, you do not know yet whether you were injured. The first step is a medical evaluation — not a conclusion based on what the newspaper did or did not say.
How much is my Andrews Highway crash case worth?
No honest lawyer can answer that question on day one. Case value depends on three things: the severity and permanence of your injuries (proven by medical records and expert opinions), the strength of the liability evidence (proven by the EDR, the police report, the surveillance footage, and the reconstruction), and the available insurance coverage (which may include layers you do not know about yet). Based on the reported facts — no documented injuries — the current value is zero. If minor-to-moderate injuries are discovered, Midland County cases of this type typically resolve in the $15,000 to $75,000 range. If serious injuries are confirmed from the head-on collision, the value could reach $250,000 or more. These are ranges, not promises. The actual number is built from the evidence, and the evidence is still being assembled.
Do I need a lawyer if the crash seems minor?
The crash seems minor because you do not yet know the full medical picture, the full liability picture, or the full coverage picture. A “minor” crash with delayed soft-tissue injuries can require months of treatment. A “minor” signal-cabinet crash can reveal an intersection-design defect. A “minor” head-on collision can produce a concussion that affects your ability to work for a year. The question is not whether the crash seems minor today. The question is whether you will know, six months from now, that the evidence was preserved, the medical record was built, and the insurance company did not take advantage of the gap between the crash and your first call to a lawyer. The consultation is free. The cost of not calling is the thing you will never know you lost.
Get Help Now
If you were on Andrews Highway on April 7 — in the signal-cabinet crash, in the head-on collision, or in any crash that followed after the intersection went dark — the evidence that proves your case is disappearing. The adjuster who called you is not waiting. The vehicle that hit the signal cabinet may already be in a salvage yard. The surveillance cameras along Andrews Highway are recording over themselves. The city’s repair records are sitting in a file that will not stay open forever.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. The consultation is free. We do not get paid unless we win your case. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — you will speak to a live person, not an answering service. Hablamos Español.
This page is legal information, not legal advice. Every case is different. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. But the decision to call — to freeze the evidence, to build the medical record, to have someone who knows this fight stand between you and the insurance machine — that decision is yours, and today is the day to make it.
Contact us. The call is free. What it costs you to wait is the thing you can never get back.