Dump Truck Accident Kills 1: Wrong Way Driver Blamed
U.S. 59 South in the Isleib area of Fort Bend County was closed for a while last Friday morning, after a wrong-way driver entered the southbound lanes of the highway and crashed into a dump truck. The crash not only resulted in the death of the woman driver, it also resulted in a hazmat spill.
According to a preliminary report from the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, at just after 3 a.m., a woman driving a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse headed northbound in the southbound lanes of the highway, and collided with a dump truck. The impact apparently killed the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The dump truck’s driver was not seriously injured, although the truck did flip over onto its side. Witnesses described the driver’s side of the car as having been “crushed.”
The Beasley Fire Department responded to the accident scene, and called in the Richmond Fire Department’s hazmat team to help them clean up a fluid spill, which witnesses say was either gasoline or hydraulic fluid or both The southbound lanes remained closed until almost 9 a.m., and traffic was diverted during that time.
While a thorough investigation of this accident will have to be conducted, this accident fits the pattern of most wrong way crashes in Texas, which are most likely to occur between two and three in the morning. Also, about half of wrong-way crashes result in either a death or an incapacitating injury, a proportion that is much higher than with other types of accidents.
In recent years, a number of state and local agencies throughout Texas have taken steps to prevent these types of accidents, including the use of standard pavement arrows, “Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way signage adopted from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and to move signs lower, so that they’re in line with a car’s headlights and are more visible at night. A few states lowered the signs to put them more in line with headlights, making them more easily visible at night.
The problem of wrong way driving is a very dangerous one, especially at highway speeds. It’s good that the state and local governments are taking steps to help, but more has to be done. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident involving a driver going the wrong way on a road or highway, please contact the Car Accident Lawyer at Hill Law firm as soon as possible, so that we can protect your rights and the rights of your family.