History of Balcones Heights
The vast majority of Balcones Heights residents have depended on automobiles to get back and forth to work in San Antonio since the city’s incorporation at the end of World War II. Established during the Great Depression as a bedroom community for those in need of lower-cost living, it has all the benefits of a small town as well as the benefits of the larger metro area of San Antonio.
The site that would become Balcones Heights saw the stagecoaches rumble down Fredericksburg Road, making their way through from San Antonio to El Paso just before the Civil War until the railroad companies superseded the stagecoach lines in the 1880s. U.S. Army Camp Verde was built in 1855, and foot soldiers, cavalry, and even the camels shipped in before the war made their way from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio through what would eventually become Balcones Heights.
Named for the escarpment labeled Los Balcones by Bernardo de Miranda y Flores in 1756, the city was developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and finally fully incorporated in 1948. The automobile’s ability to enable longer commutes without the necessity of public transport was the main reason visionaries were able to focus on and develop Balcones Heights. All forms of transportation have made their way through the crossroads of the eventual townsite. Indeed, tickets levied on motorists by the new Balcones Heights police department were the main source of income for the city in its first years of incorporation.
Though the camels moved on, the Army stayed, and within a few more decades, the advent of the automobile reshaped the geography of San Antonio, enabling the explosive growth the larger city would undergo in the early 1900s. As automobiles filled the landscape, fields that provided service to the drivers followed hard on their heels, from petroleum to Texas personal injury law offices, as even the most careful driver may need a lawyer when an accident happens.
Balcones Heights, Texas, Today
Even though Balcones Heights’ population was just over 3,000 in 2017, the enviable gamut of professional services available in the city ranges from professional legal services to medical care, which is not always the case for other small communities throughout the San Antonio metro area. The city’s birth in the depths of the Depression in 1929 sealed its eventual status as a reasonably priced bedroom community for those working in San Antonio, as Balcones Heights’ original developers were marketing building lots to those who were being priced out of living in the city. In 2018, more than 84 percent of the residents continue to work outside the city limits, but still in the San Antonio metro area.
The lifeblood of the city is still transportation, and the Connally Loop around San Antonio (I-410), Fredericksburg Road, and I-10 are now the main arteries feeding automobile traffic into Balcones Heights’ retail corridor. The original developers could not have imagined how many personal automobiles would end up driving through Balcones Heights. I-10 alone sees more than 200,000 vehicles per day through the area, and with those vehicles come accidents. The fact that someone is always at fault in an accident means Bexar County personal injury lawyers receive calls every day.
Shocking Statistics on Texas Car Accidents
Approximately 6 million car crashes happen in the United States each year, and in 2018, the number of drunk drivers killed in Texas in car crashes made up a shocking ten percent of the U.S. total. In 2019, Texas also came in second only to Florida in terms of the rate of traffic fatalities, and according to the Texas Tribune, “Between 2000 and 2018, more people died on roads in Texas than in any other state.”
The Tribune goes on to say that “roughly three out of every four Texas crashes happen in cities with 5,000 or more people.” San Antonio’s metro area contains nearly 2.6 million people, and a relatively recent study noted that the metro area also comes in 21st in the nation in terms of aggressive drivers. The most prevalent aggressive driving behavior is speeding–and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding caused more than 9,000 deaths in 2018 alone. If you have been involved in an accident where you were a victim of aggressive driving or road rage, your next call should be to the personal injury lawyers at the Patterson Group.
Common Car Accident Causes & Injuries
Organizations fielding car accident statistics vary on whether distracted driving or drunk driving is the most common cause for car accidents, but the rise in cell phone usage is definitely bringing distracted driving to the top of the list. Even with the states and cities’ ban on cellphone use while driving, there seems to be a sense from many that they won’t become a statistic. For instance, along with texting or simply talking on the cellphone, whether you’re holding the phone or using hands-free capabilities, distracted driving also includes eating and drinking, tending to a child, and even wilder activities noted on the roads, including steering the vehicle without hands, and even performing manicures.
According to driving-tests.org, the cell phone usage statistics are staggering:
- 1 out of 3 people text while driving.
- Texting while driving increases the risk of crashing by 23 times.
- 45 of the 50 US states ban texting while driving [including Texas] and 15 states ban drivers from hand-held phone use.
- 82% of American teens have a cell phone. 52% of these teens note that they talk while driving and 32% text on the road.
Drunk driving incurs the worst danger in impaired driving, but “impaired” driving can also include drugs, whether prescription or non-prescription, such as Benadryl. Fatigued driving is also becoming more and more common, with at least 5% of crashes involving a driver who is fatigued.
Texas Statute of Limitations for Car Accident Claim
The statute of limitations in Texas for bringing a car accident claim is two years from the day of your accident. However, from our experience as Balcones Heights personal injury lawyers, the legal professionals at Patterson Law Group advise reaching out to us immediately in order to preserve your best chance at getting what you deserve in terms of compensation for your injury.
According to TXDOT, there were 12,897 serious injury crashes in Texas in 2019 with 15,843 people sustaining a serious injury. Of those, 707 crashes were in Bexar County and 832 people sustained a serious injury in those accidents. That amounts to a massive number of cases at various stages making their way through the court systems, in appeals, etc. Your claim will need as much time as you can give us to ensure the outcome you’re seeking.
Seek Legal Justice with a Dedicated Car Accident Attorney
If a careless or negligent driver’s actions have left you injured in a car accident, you deserve to have a dedicated car accident attorney who is focused on winning your claim, and achieving the legal justice and compensation you deserve. Your first consultation with us is free.
