Why Fatigued TX Drivers Cause more Serious Injuries and Fatal Crashes
Continued from Part 1. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issued a report called Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes. The report documents the effect of insufficient sleep on drivers. Our Texas truck accident lawyers emphasize that lack of sleep impairs drivers’ abilities to adequately perform the complex tasks necessary for safe driving.
The NHTSA report shows that driver fatigue results in slowed reaction times, impaired attention to the road, lack of vigilance while driving, impaired information processing and decision making, and greatly increased risks for falling asleep at the wheel and swerving off course to cause a crash.
Some Potential Road fixes to help Ease the Risk of Fatal Crashes in the Eagle Ford Shale Region
Texas is adding passing lanes to the rural, two-lane stretches of U.S. 83 on which many of the Eagle Ford Shale crashes occur. But a DPS trooper points out that driver fatigue causes many of the road accidents in the area. And passing lanes won’t help prevent an accident caused by a driver dozing off behind the wheel. Rumble strips have been shown to prevent fatigue-related accidents. According to a report by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the addition of rumble strips can reduce the number of crashes by as much as 44% on rural roads.
Head-on collisions caused by vehicles crossing over the centerline or median of a road take a heavy toll in Texas. Our Texas truck accident lawyers note that especially in rural areas, where some busy highways are simple, two-lane roads, speed, lack of familiarity with the route, fatigue, and drunken driving cause drivers to lose control and crash head-on into other vehicles.
A report by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program showed that adding rumble strips to roads to alert drivers when they cross out of their lanes can reduce wrecks from crossing the center of a road by 64% on average. But these rumble strips, while fairly effective in alerting distracted and fatigued drivers to the danger, have little effect when a driver is drunk or driving too fast on slick roads and has lost traction.
Contact the Texas Truck Accident Lawyers at Denena Points, PC if you were Injured or lost a Loved One in an Eagle Ford Shale Crash
We’ve been successfully representing injured truck accident and car accident victims in their injury claims for more than 15 years. Let us guide you to a full financial recovery after your serious accident. Call us at 281-369-4363 or reach us through our online contact form to receive a FREE and confidential legal consultation.
A Board Certified Texas truck accident lawyer from Denena Points, PC will meet with you to discuss your specific accident, answer your urgent questions, and evaluate your potential for fair financial compensation from your accident losses and injuries. You have no obligation to hire an attorney. Let us help; it’s what we do.