A Texas trucking company that owns 160 different trucks recently had one of its trucks involved in a serious accident. Like so many truck accidents, this crash was a deadly one. Unfortunately, the trucking company has had a history of violations. Often, trucking companies with repeated safety issues have problems with their drivers, problems with their equipment, or both. It is victims not driving trucks who are most likely to suffer the consequences when companies and their drivers fail to obey reasonable safety precautions.
Click 2 Houston reported on a recent tragic accident, as well as the history of safety violations by the trucking company. Trucks from this company were found to have been involved in a total of 15 accidents since the middle of 2014. The most recent occurred in May and happened in Austin, TX. Three people were injured in the collision and the driver of the truck received a citation by the police.
Last July, one of the company's garage truck was involved in another accident. The 39-year-old victim was killed when the garbage truck hit her. No charges were brought against the driver for this incident.
The trucking company has also had drivers commit other safety violations in the past which did not result in accidents. For example, the Texas Department of Transportation has a record of drivers employed by the Texas trucking company engaging in behaviors like speeding, not using seat belts, or talking on cell phones. All of these different behaviors can have serious consequences, which could help to explain why there have been multiple crashes involving drivers from this company.
The most recent accident was also a deadly one. A truck owned by the Texas trucking company crashed into a bridge which was spanning a highway. When the truck crashed into a bridge, it caused debris to fall on the cars on Highway 36 which ran below the bridge. There were two people in their car on the highway when the debris fell onto it. Both of the car occupants -- a 35-year-old mother and her 12-year-old son -- were killed in the crash. The truck was being driven by a 72-year-old driver who worked for the Texas trucking company.
Witnesses indicate the truck driver may have ignored a warning system which was in place to alert truck drivers that the bridge was a low bridge. If this is true, it is possible that the driver and trucking company could be held accountable for those two tragic deaths. The trucking company has already released a statement, expressing that they are "saddened by the loss resulting from this incident." Their condolences, however, are not going to be enough if it turns out their driver was to blame.