Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Archive for the ‘Accidents’ Category

Traffic fatalities in Texas dropped 11 percent in 2009 to the lowest number since 1993, according to data released Tuesday by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Last year, 3,089 drivers or passengers died in traffic-related incidents, 388 fewer than in 2008.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributes the decline to safer vehicles, safer roads and motorists driving less.

Officials also cite public safety campaigns about seat belt usage, drunken driving and distracted driving.

Officials say motorcycle deaths were down 19 percent in 2009, to 432. In 2008, 531 people died in motorcycle wrecks.

The Department of Public Safety Saturday identified two drivers involved in a Friday collision as 17-year-old Woodrow Johnson of Granite Shoals and Gary Daniel, 54, of Marble Falls, officials said.

About 8:30 a.m. Friday, Johnson was driving a pickup west on Texas 71 when he crossed into the eastbound lanes and hit the dump truck that. Daniel was driving, according to authorities.

The collision occurred about two miles east of U.S. 281 near Shovel Mountain Road, officials said. The dump truck caught fire as a result of the collision.

Two people died late Friday and early Saturday in separate car accidents in Killeen, one that police say involved a drunken driver.

About 10:30 p.m. Friday, a woman crossing West Veteran’s Memorial. Boulevard was hit by a Pontiac Bonneville.

The woman, who police had not been able to identify later Saturday, was pronounced dead at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

The driver of the Bonneville, a 40- year-old Killeen man, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

Several hours later, about 3 a.m. Saturday, a gray Kia Sorento and silver Hyundai Elantra collided head-on in the 6900 block of East Rancier Avenue after the eastbound Hyundai crossed over the center line into the westbound lane.

The 49-year-old woman drivingthe Hyundai was pronounced dead at 3:56 a.m. at Darnall Army Medical Center.

The man driving the Kia was also taken to Darnall, where he was treated and then released. Police did not release either driver’s name.

Two people were killed and two others were injured in an accident that occurred just after midnight Friday, Department of Public Safety officials said.

The accident happened on FM 20, half a mile west of County Road 166 near Dale, at 12:30 a.m. Friday, according to authorities. Rachel Anzaldua of Bastrop was driving a Ford Mustang east on FM 20 when she failed to make a curve and drove into oncoming traffic, officials said.

The Mustang was struck by a Ford F-350 pickup driven by Amber Sparks, of Dale, a DPS operator said.

Anzaldua and 9-year-old Christopher Anzaldua died at the scene, according to the DPS. Sparks was injured and treated at the scene, officials said.

A 12-year-old riding in the pickup with Sparks, Brianna Barnes, was injured and taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center, officials was unclear whether she was still hospitalized Saturday.

Government investigators and Toyota Motor Corporation have reportedly found that driver error, not sudden unintended acceleration, may have caused dozens, of accidents involving Toyota vehicles.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a federal analysis of data from dozens of crashes blamed on sudden acceleration suggested that some drivers who lost control of their vehicles were mistakenly flooring the accelerator when they intended to hit the brakes.

Thousands of cases of unintended acceleration are being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in conjunction with NASA.

Toyota Motor Corporation spokesman Mike Michels said “virtually all” of 2,000 cases of reported unintended acceleration the automaker has reviewed resulted from drivers stepping on the gas pedal instead of the brake.

NHTSA has received 3,000 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus automobiles, and Toyota has recalled 8.5 million vehicles worldwide to alter gas pedals that might stick or remove floor mats that in some cases have trapped gas pedals and made if impossible for drivers, to stop.

Toyota said that its investigations into the accidents have determined “a number of explanations or causes,” but insisted that “in no case have we found electronic throttle controls to be a cause.”

A crash Sunday night near South Congress Avenue and Alpine Road left a motorcyclist dead.  He was recently identified as 53-year-old Donald Ingram Jr.

A 2005 Chevrolet pickup was pulling out of a private drive in the 3600 block of South Congress Avenue when it collided about 10 p.m. with the motorcycle being driven by Mr. Ingram who was going south on his Harley Davidson.

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling south and hit the driver’s side of the Chevrolet.

Mr. Ingram, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge where he died. The truck’s driver was not injured.  Police said it is unclear whether alcohol or speed was involved in the accident.

This is Austin’s 26th traffic fatality of the year, according to authorities.

A man riding a bicycle was struck and killed by a dump truck Monday Morning near Interstate 35 and Ben White Boulevard.

The truck had been at a stoplight on the northbound frontage road of Interstate 35, according to police. The accident happened at 9:41 a.m. as the driver turned east onto the Ben White Boulevard frontage road. The cyclist was traveling east on the Ben White frontage road, and the truck driver did not see him, officials said.

Police did not name the driver or the cyclist, who they described as a man in his 40s.

Officials said that no charges are expected but that the case is still under investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call vehicular homicide detectives at 974-4724. This is the 25th traffic fatality in Austin this year, officials said. At this time in 2009, there were 38.

A man who was injured June 12 when a truck crashed into the South Austin home where he was staying died Thursday, police said Monday.

Randy Jordan Williams, 43, was a resident of a home for people with disabilities near William Cannon Drive and Stage Coach Trail, police said. The driver of the pickup, Jose Luis
Sanchez, 19, has been charged with intoxication assault, failure to stop and render aid, and evading, police said. Charges of intoxication manslaughter are pending, police said.

Police say Sanchez was driving a pickup west on William Cannon about 9 p.m. when he struck a motorcyclist who was also traveling west. Sanchez then fled the scene, police said, but lost control and then crashed into a fence and into the home. The truck came to a rest on top of Williams, who was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge with bleeding in his brain and two broken legs, police said.

Two people were killed and seven injured in a seven-vehicle crash Friday afternoon in far south San Antonio.

Margarita Montemayor, 43, and an unidentified passenger in another car were pronounced dead at the scene by San Antonio police.

The wreck, at Texas 16 and Watson Road, involved two tractor-trailers and five passenger vehicles, according to the police report.

Witnesses said four people traveling north in a green Toyota Solara on Texas 16 ran a red light and struck a tractor-trailer driven by Alejandro Guerra, who was traveling west on Watson Road.

The Solara flipped multiple times, stopping in the left-turning lane of southbound Texas 16. A passenger in the back seat was pronounced dead at the scene.

The tractor-trailer went through the intersection, veering right into southbound traffic on Texas 16. It hit three more cars and another tractor-trailer, causing a domino effect.

Montemayor was driving a white Chrysler 300 that was struck and pushed 100 feet into a ditch.

Guerra’s tractor-trailer came to a stop on the northwest corner of Watson Road and Texas 16. He and a passenger in the tractor-trailer, Nancy Guerra, were not hurt. Five people were transported to a hospital; two refused medical treatment. One of those hospitalized is pregnant, San Antonio Fire Battalion Chief Ralph Medina said.

A woman died Sunday morning after she fell off the back of a motorcycle at Cameron Road and Cross Park Drive in Northeast Austin, police said.

The woman, who was not identified pending family notification, was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge, where she later died, police said.

Daniel Ortega, 28, was driving the bike and fled the scene but was later found by police, officials said. He was detained, police said, but jail records showed that he had not been charged.