Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Posts Tagged ‘Round Rock’

56-year-old Rosalee Ann Cruser died Wednesday in a three-vehicle wreck at A.W. Grimes Boulevard and University Boulevard which occurred about 11:15 a.m..

Witnesses said Cruser, the driver of a Mazda Protege traveling east on University ran a red light and was struck by a Dodge pickup traveling south on A.W. Grimes Boulevard.

The impact spun the truck into a third vehicle.

Cruser died at the scene, police said. A passenger in her vehicle, possibly her mother, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The 66-year-old driver of the truck was treated for minor injuries, police said. The 16-year-old driver of the third vehicle was not injured.

Two college-age students from Killeen were killed early Sunday in a head-on collision with a Round Rock driver going the wrong way on a toll road, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Anthony Joseph Thomas, 21, and Garvin O’Neil Campbell, 19, were driving east on Texas 45 North when their 2004 Mercedes was struck by the Mitsubishi driven by 30-year-old Michael Charles Mattioli.

Thomas and Campbell were pronounced dead at the scene, according to DPS. A DPS official said they were students but did not know from what school. Their bodies were sent to the Travis County medical examiner’s office.

DPS said Mattioli was taken to a Round Rock hospital.

28-year-old Beverly Leeann Baker of Round Rock was killed Sunday in a wreck just before 3 a.m. in the 11000 block of South Texas 195 in Killeen.

Officers responded to a report of a Jeep traveling north in the southbound lane of Texas 195  As they were en route, callers reported a crash at 2:54 a.m.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a 26-year-old Killeen man was driving a 2003 Jeep Wrangler on the wrong side of the road, police said.  The Jeep’s driver swerved to avoid a vehicle that was traveling south, spun and struck the front of a 1993 Buick Regal that was behind the other vehicle.  The Jeep then rolled and burst into flames.

The Buick was occupied by a 38-year-old man from Austin and two women.  The man and a 30-year-old woman from Georgetown who was seated in the rear of the Buick were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.  Baker was pronounced dead at 3:30 a.m.

The driver of the Jeep was severely burned and airlifted to Scott & White; he will be transferred to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, police said.

Austin City Council members will vote next week on an ordinance that would prohibit text messaging while driving. If approved, it might be the first such citywide texting ban in Texas, officials said.

Drivers could still text while a vehicle is stopped. But the ordinance would ban writing, sending or viewing electronic messages on a cell phone, BlackBerry, iPhone or any other wireless communication device while driving. Electronic messages would 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,” according to a draft of the ordinance.

The ban would exempt the use of navigational systems or wireless devices permanently installed in a vehicle; texting because a life is in danger or to report a traffic accident or a medical emergency or to prevent a crime; and police officers, firefighters and paramedics who use wireless devices on duty.

A report released in July by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that when truck drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater.

A violation would be a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a fine of up to $500 and can be appealed in Municipal Court. That penalty could increase if a driver is texting and committing other traffic violations, such as speeding.

The council unanimously approved the idea of a ban in August, but city staffers needed time to write actual rules. If council members pass the ordinance Oct. 22, it would take effect about a month later.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have texting-while-driving bans. A state law that took effect in Texas last month prohibits cell phone use in school zones. Austin and several other area cities, including Pflugerville, Round Rock and San Marcos, have erected signs and are enforcing that law, though some other cities have questioned whether they must enforce it.

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said a texting ban would be redundant because laws already exist that prohibit dangerous driving behaviors. A public awareness campaign about the risks of texting while driving would be more effective, said Debbie Russell, president of the Central Texas chapter of the ACLU of Texas. The ban could also be tough to enforce, she said.

Donald Baker, commander of the Austin Police Department’s highway enforcement division, said officers will use common sense to enforce the law and look for drivers who are obviously texting. Whether a driver was texting because of an emergency will be up to the officer’s discretion, he said.

Officers already have the authority to ticket drivers for a variety of dangerous behaviors, from speeding to aggressively changing lanes to following a vehicle too closely, Baker said. In some cases, those behaviors are caused by drivers absorbed in texting, he said.

Another safety-related ordinance up for a vote Oct. 22 would require a three-foot distance between vehicles and “vulnerable road users,” such as cyclists, pedestrians and people in wheelchairs. An existing state law requires
safe driving distance between vehicles and bicycles but does not specify how far apart they must be.