Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Posts Tagged ‘austin’

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 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.

One person was killed and another seriously injured Monday in a one-car wreck on the Interstate 35 northbound frontage road at Riverside Drive.

A Chevrolet Camaro carrying two men was traveling west on Riverside when it left the road for unknown reasons and struck a signal light pole at 2:17 a.m., police said.

The 37-year-old passenger, Ramon Gutierrez Frias, was pronounced dead at University Medical Center Brackenridge, while the driver was taken into surgery after suffering serious injuries, police said.

Speed appears to be a factor, officials said. Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call vehicular homicide detectives at 974-8164.

Austin intersections with red-light cameras we seen a 30 percent drop in wrecks, city officials say.

The cameras were phased in at nine intersections — with more than one camera at some — beginning in May 2008. They have brought in more than $100,000 in citations.

Police Lt. Brian Gruetzner, who oversees vehicular homicide and the red-light cameras, says the 30 percent decrease in wrecks “is pretty substantial for anyone.”
“We really haven’t seen any increases” at those intersections, Gruetzner said, “and I see it as a very positive thing.”

Intersections were chosen because they had a history of being the site of the most wrecks and red-light runners.

Some of the cameras have been more effective than others in preventing wrecks, Gruetzner said, in places where more people are aware of their existence and where the road designs allow quick stopping. Each intersection with a red-light camera must have a sign informing drivers of the camera.

“A lot of it is familiarity (of where the cameras are), and that’s why I would think a lot of people would slow down,” Gruetzner said.

The five intersections where red-light cameras were in operation for all of 2009 had 59, wrecks that year, down from 85 in 2007, the year before those cameras were installed.

Only partial-year statistics are available for the other sites.

Ten more red-light cameras were installed by March 2009, some at intersections that got two cameras, and a total of 21,242 citations have been given out.

Officials with the Municipal Court said that 1,715 citations were given out within five months of the first camera being set up at 11th Street and the northbound frontage road of Interstate 35.

Each citation is $75, but that fine can increase if people pay late.

From the installation of the first camera until Feb. 28 of this year, the system has generated $115,286 in traffic fines.

Potential citations can be thrown out in reviews by police if the image is unclear or if they determine that no violation occurred.

Although citations can be appealed to a city hearing officer and then to a municipal judge, only a couple have made it to the courtroom, said city spokesman Reyne Telles.

Debbie Russell, a spokeswoman with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said she thinks there are still mistakes in the system the city uses to ticket red-light violators.

Russell said the red-light system could be ticketing the wrong person, such as a parent. “While there may be a few benefits to the system, no one has still figured out how to fix the due process issue of cars being ticketed and not the driver,” she said.

Telles said about 50 percent of the photos of red-light violators are thrown out after the vendor and an officer review them because the pictures don’t clearly show the driver running the red light.

When a violation is found, the owner of the vehicle is mailed the citation and a link to watch the video online. Telles said the cameras are angled so that the occupants cannot be seen, which he said is done so privacy isn’t violated.

In 2007, the City Council approved a 15-year, $15.8 million contract with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. to install and maintain the cameras and to do initial processing of violations. There is no plan to expand the, program.

Telles said the city pays Redflex $4,870 per camera per month to cover the operation, maintenance, and monitoring of the cameras.

“We didn’t install the cameras to save money; we installed them to decrease accidents and save lives,” he said.

Blood could soon be drawn at Central Booking at the Travis County Jail, after county commissioners’ 4-0 vote Tuesday approving changes to an agreement between Travis County and the City of Austin.

The Austin City Council is expected to consider the agreement changes later this month.

A law went into effect last year that expanded the circumstances requiring blood or breath tests from DWI suspects. They now include incidents in which victims are injured and transported for medical care and the presence of a child passenger in the suspect’s vehicle. The Travis County sheriff’s office and Austin police estimate that an additional 300 to 400 blood draws will be required each year on top of the 400 to 500 blood draws that have been taken at the request of local law enforcement.

Two primary reasons for having a phlebotomist in Central Booking are to improve officer and public safety and to avoid the costs of blood draws at University Medical Center Brackenridge.

At Brackenridge, for an average 910 blood draws, phlebotomy services are estimated to cost $329,420 a year, or $362 per blood draw, a cost that includes a $275 medical exam.

Though blood draws are taken at jails in Bexar, Dallas and Williamson counties, they are taken at hospitals in Harris and Tarrant counties.

A woman was killed and a man was injured Friday in a head-on collision op RM 620 in Northwest Austin, police said.

According to police, a woman was driving a Toyota Celica north on RM 620 near Concordia University Drive about 2:45 p.m. when she crossed the center line for unknown reasons and hit a van.

She was taken to St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, where she later died. No other people were in the car.

The van’s driver was taken to the same hospital; his injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Police have not released the identities of the people involved.

Police are seeking witnesses and information about a driver who fled after’ hitting a bicycle pedicab early Nov. 15 in the 500 block of West Fifth Street.

The operator of the pedicab and two passengers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening but required hospitalization at University Medical Center Brackenridge. The pedicab was eastbound on West Fifth when it was struck from behind by a white, early-1990s model Ford Bronco, according to police. The three victims were, thrown from the pedicab, and the driver of the Bronco fled south on Guadalupe Street, police said.

Anyone with information that would aid in the investigation of the collision is asked to call the Vehicular Homicide Unit at 974-5520.

An 18-year-old was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide after a fatal wreck in Lakeway on Saturday left another man dead. The charge is a state jail felony, which carries a maximum penalty of  two years if he is convicted.

Siji Alfredo Moreno was driving a Chevy pickup South on RM 620 about 8:30 a.m. when, witnesses told Lakeway police, Moreno’s pickup drifted across the center turn lane and into the northbound lane, according to an affidavit. Moreno’s truck struck a four-door Toyota Corolla that John Gregory was riding in, the affidavit said.

Gregory and his wife Carolyn, who was driving, were  flown to University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin; Moreno was taken in an ambulance, the affidavit says. John Gregory died from his injuries later that day. Carolyn Gregory was in intensive care Tuesday night. A passenger in the truck did not suffer serious injuries, the affidavit said.

Moreno was in the Travis County. Jail with bail set at $250,000. Lakeway police said the investigation into the wreck is ongoing.

An 18-wheeler struck and killed a pedestrian Tuesday morning on RM 620 near Quinlan Park Road.

The identity of the victim, who appeared to be about 30 years old, was not released, Travis County sheriff’s Capt. Art Cardenas said.

Witnesses told investigators they saw the man walking on the side of the road about 8 a.m., and the victim’s car was found parked nearby. It appears the man stepped into the roadway, where he was struck at highway speed by a westbound 18-wheeler, Cardenas said.

The truck driver stopped and notified authorities, he said, and no charges were filed in connection with the incident.

Austin City Council unanimously passed a ban last week on text messaging while driving, though a few speakers raised concerns that the ban  is too broad and urged council members to spend more time refining it.

The ban was supposed to take effect November 2; instead, it will take effect January 1. Council Member Mike Martinez suggested the delay, saying it will give the public and city commissions more time to review and suggest tweaks to the ordinance. He also asked city staffers to use the time to conduct an educational campaign about the ban.

Drivers will still be able to text when their vehicle is stopped. The ordinance will prohibit writing, sending or viewing electronic messages on a cell phone, BlackBerry, iPhone or any wireless communication device while driving. Electronic messages include text messages, e-mails, posts on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and “a command or request to access an Internet site.”

The ordinance exempts placing a phone call, using a navigation system or a wireless device permanently installed in a vehicle and texting in emergency situations. It also exempts public safety personnel who use wireless, devices while on duty. Drivers could still use a voice-activated mode on their wireless devices to send messages.

Violations will be Class C misdemeanors, which carry a fine of up to $500 and can be appealed in Municipal Court. The penalty could be increased if a driver is caught engaging in another dangerous driving behavior, such as speeding.

Debbie Russell of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union questioned why public safety employees would be exempt, saying texting while driving poses the same risks for them. She added that the ban could be tough to enforce and may lead to intrusive searches of wireless devices as police or prosecutors gather evidence against violators.