Gaines County, TX — March 11, 2025, one person sustained injuries due to a commercial truck accident which happened around 6:22 a.m. on U.S. Highway 385.

According to initial details about the accident, it happened in the area of U.S. 385 and County Road 320, south of Seminole.

While information is scarce right now, authorities say that a 26-year-old man was in a Chevy Cruze going northbound along the highway. In events not entirely clear, an allegedly inattentive driver in a semi-truck crashed into the Chevy Cruze.

Due to the collision, the Chevy driver was seriously injured. There were no other reported injuries. Additional details about the crash are unavailable.

Commentary

I've handled hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases throughout my career. It's important people understand that even if inattention led to this crash, it's not likely to be open-and-shut, as some may think. That's rarely ever the case. There are usually serious challenges to overcome, and it's important there are investigators who can anticipate those potential challenges handling the details.

This isn't just me speculating, so let me give an example from a case I handled a while back. In that situation, a truck driver was on his phone texting, leading to a serious accident. While it was obvious the truck driver was in the wrong, our investigations took two important steps: we pulled the cell phone records, and we investigated the driver's working conditions. What we found was that the truck driver's supervisor contributed to the crash.

Simply put, this supervisor would constantly call and text drivers throughout the day. Instead of leaving them to do their jobs in peace, he'd incessantly micromanage them. If drivers didn't immediately respond, they risked getting in trouble. This unreasonable behavior meant drivers had to risk an accident or otherwise risk their livelihood. Inevitably, people got hurt as a result.

What many would write off as just some reckless driver ended up being a whole trucking company engaging in reckless behavior. If companies aren't called out when that sort of behavior leads to harm, they're likely to continue being irresponsible, and more people will eventually get hurt. The families I've worked with over the years didn't want that. Generally speaking, people want to see accountability for all whose actions contribute to an accident.

So while certain information about this particular crash seems straight-forward, it's important for investigations to be as thorough as possible. Otherwise, serious problems may go unaddressed.