The Cost of Poor Driving Decisions on Texas Roadways

The Montgomery County Police Reporter posted a fine story and some great photos of a costly tanker truck accident on State Highway 242 yesterday. Apparently the tanker truck driver tried to beat an oncoming driver as he turned his rig left into a subdivision. The tanker truck was hit by the oncoming vehicle, which smashed up the front of that car and ripped into the truck’s 200-gallon tank of diesel fuel.

Erica Hernandez of Conroe drove the Dodge Charger that broadsided the tanker truck when it failed to yield right of way. Ms. Hernandez received transport to the hospital in stable condition for her injuries from the tanker truck wreck. The driver of the truck, owned by Terra Renewal, said he “thought he could make it.”

To our Houston truck wreck lawyers, that seems a pretty lame excuse for the wreckage that followed the truck driver’s poor driving decision. That tanker truck driver was driving a tanker truck full of combustible diesel fuel for pity’s sake. With that dangerous cargo in tow, one would expect a professional truck driver to be more careful and responsible. You don’t pull a big, slow-moving rig full of combustible fuel out in front of an onrushing car on the highway, especially if that car has the right of way and probably wasn’t prepared for such a risky maneuver.

Houston truck wreck lawyers well know that mishandled and poorly driven, a truck itself is a dangerous weapon. With a tanker full of diesel fuel, it’s a dangerous incendiary weapon. There’s just no excuse for the kind of negligence that this tanker truck driver exhibited in failing to observe the legal right of way and trying to beat Ms. Hernandez’s oncoming Charger across the road.

We’re grateful that the damage and injuries from the wreck weren’t any worse. Our Houston truck wreck lawyers are also grateful for the professional and methodical work of first responders and HAZMAT personnel in containing the damage so quickly and methodically. We use SH 242 ourselves pretty frequently. The wreck could easily have been far more costly than it was. Let’s take a look at some of the more obvious costs of this wreck:

• Damage to the car (it looks like it might have been totaled).
• Damage to the truck and diesel tank.
• Loss of most of 200 gallons of expensive diesel fuel.
• Medical bills of Ms. Hernandez and possible lost wages while she recovers. We wish her a safe and uneventful recovery after the frightening accident.
• Costs of first responders and HAZMAT crews who worked the scene and cleaned up the dangerous mess.
• Costs in time as SH 242 remained shut down while the wreck’s damage was contained.
• The small fine for the “failure to yield right of way” citation that the negligent truck driver received.
• As Houston truck wreck lawyers, we shouldn’t fail to also mention the costs of a civil claim for damages, should an injured party choose to pursue such a claim. We all see wrecks every day in the news, from small fender benders, to crashes with odd twists, to the really big wrecks that tie up traffic for hours or days.

Road wrecks have become so commonplace; we probably don’t necessarily count the costs. But even the smallest accidents usually cost more than might meet the eye. All the better reason to take care, and try to avoid poor (and costly) driving decisions. Poor driving decisions can easily make you poor.