The Texas truck accident attorneys at Denena & Points note that in the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas development region, time is money and profits and Texas revenues are soaring. But the region is finding the unprecedented economic boom comes with a price tag. And the price is paid in lives from work accidents and highway accidents caused by fatigue, some companies’ failures to observe safety precautions and basic maintenance, and the rush to profit.
Just since 2011, around 1,200 18-wheeler crashes have been recorded for the 19-county Eagle Ford Shale development region. At least 25 of those accidents were fatal ones. County law enforcement offices, which might have only a single call per day prior to the oil and gas boom, now face at least a dozen calls per shift and now find themselves perpetually understaffed to deal with the increase in calls generated by the regional growth in both population and accidents.
Local infrastructure is also taking a beating. Our Texas truck accident attorneys point out that many of the local roads are narrow, rural highways that until recent years might have seen the passage of just a few vehicles per day. Now these same roads might be filled bumper-to-bumper, primarily with 18-wheelers and other heavy trucks related to the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas boom.
Gravel trucks, tanker trucks, equipment trucks, pickup trucks, water trucks, you name it. They’re all plying these low capacity regional roads. And the unaccustomed heavy loads are taking their toll on the regional infrastructure and making the roads increasingly dangerous to travel.
The 19 counties of the Eagle Ford Shale development are seeing an unprecedented increase in fatal traffic accidents to accompany the increase in economic activity. LaSalle County has seen a 418% increase in fatal traffic accidents since 2008. McMullen County has seen a 1,050% increase. Much of this sharp increase in fatal traffic accidents is attributable to the oil and gas industry truck traffic related to the shale development. And to a profits over people attitude among some trucking fleet owners who provide little or no safety inspections or maintenance on their truck fleets.
This negligent attitude among greedy trucking company owners endangers the truck drivers as much as other users of the Eagle Ford Shale area roads. Our Texas truck accident attorneys understand that most truck drivers are aware that the federal safety regulations regarding trucking help ensure their safety. But the oil and gas trucks that ply the shale development have exemptions from many of these safety regulations. And profit conscious employers take advantage of these exceptions to require long and dangerous work shifts of their truck drivers and to neglect basic safety and maintenance that could save lives.
A single oilrig could require as many as 1,500 individual truck trips. Trucks must deliver sand, water, equipment, and workers to facilitate the fracking activity that extracts the valuable energy from the shale. Other trucks haul away the oil and gas produced by the development.
The trucks that service these rigs travel over narrow, damaged highways, gravel roads, and open brush to do their work. In addition to the wear caused by travel itself, the merciless heat and sunlight of the South Texas region takes an enormous toll on truck’s tires. Tires age and wear faster here than in other areas, and some of the fatal traffic accidents attributable to the oil boom can be traced to poorly maintained and worn tires.
Truck drivers and local residents can’t do much to push the infrastructure upgrade that the Eagle Ford Shale area needs to keep up with its booming economy. But employers and truck owners can do their part to enhance everyone’s safety on the local roads by ensuring thorough and attentive maintenance to the trucks that ply the roads every day.
Our Texas truck accident attorneys call upon these employers and truck owners to do their part for safety and take a more proactive role in the maintenance and safety precautions that could save additional South Texas lives. Read more about the traffic safety issues and increasing number of truck accidents in the linked blog post by our Texas truck accident attorneys.