We Texans Need a Day Off … from Our Fatal Crash-Per-Day Streak

An 18-year-old all-state pitcher at Paschal High School, Drew Medford, who was about to start college at TCU, tragically died early this morning on the new Chisholm Trail Parkway.  The news shocked his family and friends. But given that at least one Texan has died every day in a traffic crash for the past 15 years, the story wasn’t as surprising as you might think.

Traffic deaths increased last year by a whopping 7.7 percent, the largest percentage in 50 years.This  photo was taken on I-35 in north Fort Worth after a man died and his passenger was severely injured while they were at a complete stop. I’m filing a lawsuit this week to help the passenger recover her tremendous damages. Our investigation has found that the 18 wheeler driver, who was only four feet eight inches tall, was exceeding the speed limit. Further, his truck had not been properly inspected or repaired. In addition, the commercial driver admitted that he was not paying attention to the vehicles on the road and he had just received a phone call before the crash.

Why are there so many crashes here?

Can you believe that 35,200 people died in auto accidents in 2015? That’s over 2,500 more people than in 2014.

The causes of this terrible trend are easy to figure out.  Yes, North Texas continues to grow rapidly and there are more cars and trucks on the road each year. But here are the top preventable reasons I see:

  • Smart phones

More than 3,200 people died in distracted driving accidents and 431,000 people were seriously injured in this country — far too many of them in Texas.. It is past time for our state lawmakers to put an end to this dangerous practice. I know Texans like to stand alone, but this is one time we should join the 46 states that ban texting while driving and the 14 states that ban talking on a handheld phone while driving.

  • Drunk driving

More than 10,000 people die in drunk driving accidents every year, about one-third of the lives lost every year in auto crashes in the U.S. Think about it, 10,000 lives would be spared if intoxicated drivers found another way home. Stricter enforcement and harsher penalties could slash this number drastically.

  • Speeding

Close to 10,000 deadly traffic accidents were speeding related. Surprisingly, 35 percent of fatal high-speed crashes occurred on rural roads, whereas 29 percent were on major interstate highways.

  • Failing to wear seat belts

Wearing a seat belt is one of the single easiest and most effective ways to survive a car crash. A seat belt can reduce the front-seat passenger’s changes of death during an accident by almost 50 percent. Kudos to Texas for getting this one right. As a primary enforcement state, police can give drivers a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, no matter if they’ve done nothing else wrong.

We Can Help You

We hope you don’t need our help, but we here at Berenson Injury Law devote our full attention, experience and resources to recovering damages for people injured and the loved ones of people killed in car and truck wrecks.

We have been helping North Texas families for the past 36 years with their auto accident wrongful death cases. These are the only cases we handle.

If you or a loved one was injured or died in a car or truck collision, we will assist you during this difficult time.

Please call us at 817-885-8000 or long distance at 1-800-801-8585 for more information and a free case evaluation.

 

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