A detailed news account from Royse City reports that the first ambulance to respond to the major I-30 crash at the overpass construction zone got stuck in the large hole and couldn’t get out. A wrecked SUV and a concrete highway barrier blocked it in, and the lack of road shoulders due to construction prevented traveling out alongside oncoming traffic. So emergency workers called another ambulance and transferred the 7 injured patients from the Royse City crash into that vehicle.
The Royse City Police Chief, Jeff Stapleton, indicated that it was very lucky that the crash from the large hole in the pavement didn’t result in life-threatening injuries. Our I-30 crash injury lawyers agree; given how many large vehicles crashed on I-30 that morning and the foggy conditions, it’s a wonder the results of the wrecks weren’t far worse. Our thoughts and warm wishes for quick recoveries are with all of the injured victims.
Police confirmed that the three-vehicle crash just after 7 a.m. on Friday was caused initially by a small car hitting the large hole in the pavement of westbound I-30’s outside lane near Erby Campbell Blvd. Then the car struck a concrete highway barrier and was hit by a tandem tractor-trailer truck. The truck apparently also ran into the hole before striking the car and had a tire blow out. The rear trailer of the truck ended up smashing through the concrete highway divider and an oncoming SUV hit it.
Before that 7 a.m. wreck, a 13 vehicle crash at the Lake Ray Hubbard Bridge on I-30 involved six tractor-trailer trucks and 7 or 8 passenger vehicles. That chain reaction crash occurred around 3:30 a.m. in the fog and wrecked additional sections of the highway barrier. That earlier wreck resulted in the arrest of a driver for intoxication. (Jim Hardin, Royse City Herald-Banner, 1/15/14)
As the Royse City report indicates, clearing the scenes of the accidents and getting traffic moving again was complicated not just by the severity of the accidents and the many vehicles involved, but also by the damage to the highway and the presence of the construction zone.
I’ve noticed several construction areas lately where deep holes from construction are right alongside moving traffic lanes with barely a row of cones to give warning. I’ve found a stretch of Belt Line Road in Dallas and some of the construction involving LBJ Freeway particularly problematic. It’s not hard to picture a vehicle trying to negotiate fast-moving traffic slipping into these holes and wrecking.
It’s understandable that traffic workers don’t want to block more lanes and slow traffic more than necessary. But the I-30 crash injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC emphasize the lesson of the Royse City crashes, which indicate that a wreck resulting from the construction zone hazards blocks traffic longer and more seriously than additional safety precautions might.
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