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A recent train collision with a stationary vehicle killed one man and seriously injured his two sons. The Austin accident is still under police investigation. The train’s video recording devices malfunctioned during the accident, leaving many questions unanswered.
The southbound MetroRail train was near Scofield Ridge Parkway when it struck a white sedan. The car, driven by 32-year-old Jeremy Louis Barta, was eastbound on a private drive. Federal rules do not require a stoplight or crossing gate on driveways that only lead to private property. The 32-mile MetroRail track has ten such intersections, which are mostly private drives and smaller roads.
Barta was killed on the scene. His two young sons were taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center with serious injuries.
Police are trying to piece together information about the crash from the few sources they have. The investigation is limited by the fact that the train’s 16-camera recording system malfunctioned before the crash. The recording device has been sent to the manufacturer to hopefully extract the video of the crash.
The train was traveling at the local speed limit of 40 miles per hour when it spotted Barta’s vehicle on the tracks. The train conductor pulled the emergency break but was unable to stop in time. According to witnesses, Barta’s car was stationary on the train tracks. Police are working with the MetroRail company, its employees and witnesses to determine what happened in the moments before the crash.
The Austin car crash lawyers of Straight Law extend their condolences to the Barta family and wish the injured boys a speedy recovery.
There are many Austin car accidents involving a telephone pole. Whether it’s drunk driving or someone falling asleep behind the wheel, cars sometimes crash into telephone poles. Then again, sometimes telephone poles crash into cars.
Austin resident Joyce Thompson’s car was parked in her driveway when a light pole collapsed onto it. Further investigation revealed that the pole was rotten its core and fell under its own weight. In more than 20 years living at the house, the poles have never been replaced, despite frequent complaints from Austin residents.
Thompson was receiving regular radiation treatments for breast cancer when the light pole destroyed her car. Now her son Bryan has to his mother to her appointments. He assumed that the city would take responsibility and pay for the vehicle’s repairs. But Thompson, along with seven other Austin residents in the last two years, was denied payment by the city.
A spokesperson for the city stated that the city is not responsible for damages in the car accidents. A policy is in place to protect the government from illegitimate lawsuits, which would cost the taxpayers. Legitimate claims, however, fall victim to the self-preservation ordinance set up by the city.
The city also claims that it is not responsible for damages incurred while providing street lights for taxpayers’ safety and security. The city government believes this is just one of the side effects of providing for its citizens.
These reasons are not good enough for Thompson, who was unexpectedly stripped of her mode of transportation. Three years after the incident, she was finally able to purchase a new car, no thanks to the city of Austin.
Questions regarding incidents such as these can be directed to the experienced car crash lawyers of Straight Law. We regret that Joyce Thompson and other Austin residents have sustained these damages to their property.
There are far too many Texas highway accidents that result in far too many injuries and deaths. Some accidents come from road conditions, some from drunk driving, and some from dangerous truckers. But a decent percentage of accidents come from distracted drivers who are not focused on the road.
Whether the driver is texting, making a phone call, changing the music, or checking the GPS, hundreds of accidents are caused by drivers not paying attention to the road. Distracted driving actually accounted for almost twenty-five percent of car accidents in 2011. Over 80,000 of those accidents were caused by cell phone use or inattention.
April marks National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which hopes to bring attention to the rising rates of Texas car accidents that could easily be prevented. The campaign takes place throughout the country, including states that have banned texting and using cell phones while driving.
In response to the problem of driver inattention, the Texas Department of Transportation launched the “Talk. Text. Crash.” initiative. Warning signs are posted along a few major highways across Texas. The Department hopes that bringing attention to inattention will lower the rate of unnecessary accidents on highways and other roads.
In 2010, El Paso passed a city ordinance to ban cell phone use while driving unless it’s with a hands-free device. Texas has yet to pass a state-wide law with the same regulations. However, other major cities are discussing similar ordinances to protect their citizens and streets.
Questions and concerns regarding National Distracted Driving Awareness Month can be directed to the experienced Austin car crash attorneys of Straight Law. We offer tips on safe driving, as well as how to deal with accidents when they do occur. Our FREE book, Texas Accident Law and You, can be ordered on our website.
An explosive accident involving a tanker truck on March 28 left one driver dead in Austin. The other driver was traveling with his mother in the passenger seat when they crashed into a tanker trailer carrying gasoline.
So much gasoline was involved that roads were closed for over eight hours after the accident. Texas Department of Transportation had to resurface the affected areas because the asphalt was burned off after the tanker exploded.
Officials say that the car ran a blinking red light and slammed into the tanker late in the evening. A police helicopter was in the skies on another case but managed to catch the blaze on video. One officer described the scene as being worse than house fires he has been involved with before. After the crash, the car was severely damaged and little remained of the truck.
The driver of the tanker truck who lost his life in the wreck was Royce Dedrick Brooks from San Antonio. The car’s driver, 24-year-old Hernan Garcia-Segura, sustained minor head injuries. His mother Alicia Garcia-Segura, aged 62, suffered a broken pelvis. The mother and son were treated at University Medical Center Brackenridge.
Hernan Garcia-Segura’s mother was trapped inside the vehicle. He freed her and was able to drag her to a nearby ditch before the truck exploded. When emergency responders arrived, they moved her to a safe location to perform first aid.
The Austin Watershed Department has yet to determine if fuel from the tanker has contaminated the area’s environment. The public is asked to keep an eye out for any irregularities in water and plant life.
The Austin car crash lawyers of Straight Law offer their sincere condolences to the family of Royce Dedrick Brooks. We wish the Garcia-Seguras a speedy recovery.
What should have been a routine stop for driving violations turned into a deadly encounter in an Austin car crash. A 24-year old man lost control of his van and struck a man waiting at a bus stop in May of 2011.
The driver, Charles “Chas” Roberts, Jr., was attempting to evade a sheriff’s deputy for minor violations. As he fled, he reached speeds up to 90 miles per hour, prosecutors said. He ran a red light and then lost control of his vehicle. The chase ended when Roberts crashed into a bus stop and hit Rondal Lynn Brooks, a 41-year old man. Brooks was waiting for the Capitol Metro bus at the intersection of Manchaca Road and Dittmar Road in Austin, Texas. Roberts then fled the scene.
Brooks was a rehab technician at Texas Neurorehab Center. He was at the bus stop that day because two years earlier he had survived a fatal car accident that killed two others. He had since been afraid of driving himself.
At the trial on March 2, Roberts was convicted to twenty-five years in prison for killing Brooks. He will not be eligible for parole until he has served half of his sentence. Roberts is now the third person in the last seventeen months to be convicted for killing a person with a car at an Austin-area bus stop. The causes of the other accidents were not noted.
The Austin car crash lawyers of Straight Law offer their condolences to the family of Rondal Lynn Brooks after this tragic accident.
While the number of overall traffic fatalities is dropping in Austin, TX, the auto-pedestrian fatality rate has increased significantly over the past year. In a city that is working to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation, this is a major cause for concern.
The auto-pedestrian fatality rate increased by an alarming 83 percent from 2010 to 2011. So far 2012 has seen eight vehicle-related deaths in the first ten weeks. With twelve deaths in 2010 and twenty-one in 2011, this year is expected to significantly exceed those numbers.
A father visiting family in Austin was struck down by a vehicle outside of a grocery store and died on site. Another woman was crossing the street on a green light when she was struck by a bus and dragged, dying a week later. A kindergarten student was hit by a recklessly driven car in a parking lot. He died as his mother watched on.
City officials are horrified with the rise of deaths in a town that prides itself on the prevalence of alternative transportation. Austin’s police chief Art Acevedo reported that most of these vehicular homicides and other accidents were preventable. Furthering the problem is Austin’s reputation as a big party town with significant drinking and driving problems.
Austin police have identified specific streets and intersections where pedestrians are particularly vulnerable. For example, the capital’s Congress Avenue is home to a large majority of the auto-pedestrian collisions. The city is investing resources to improve infrastructure in order to keep pedestrians safe. The police department has launched several initiatives to improve public awareness of the law as it relates to pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.
The Austin car crash lawyers of Straight Law offer their sincere condolences to the families of the victims in the recent rash of auto-pedestrian collisions. We are concerned about the state of pedestrian safety in Austin, and support the city’s improvement efforts.
Last week, a jury sentenced Charles “Chas” Roberts Jr. to 25 years behind bars for his involvement in a fatal Austin car accident. According to reports, Roberts Jr. was evading a sheriff’s deputy, when his car lost control near a bus stop. He struck and killed 41-year old Rondal Lynn Brooks. Tragically and ironically, Brooks had been taking the bus because he had been in a previously gruesome car accident and thus had sworn off car travel for safety reasons.
Roberts Jr. allegedly was driving around 90 miles per hour when he lost control. The Austin American-Statesman reports that, over the past year and a half, three different people have been convicted for killing people at bus stops in the city of Austin.
The Price of Escalating Mistakes
This tragedy all began when a deputy tried to pull a man over for a simple traffic violation. Roberts Jr. compounded his problem by eluding arrest and driving recklessly. The situation obviously got much worse after that. The point here is that Roberts committed a series of bad judgments – not just one single mistake. Fatal Austin car accidents often occur this way. A single lapse of reason or judgment does not cause disaster; rather, we can usually blame a string of bad judgments or reckless decisions.
The Austin accident lawyers at Straight Law offer our sincere condolences to the family of Rondal Lynn Brooks.
Austin auto accidents are caused by many reasons and by many people of different ages. However, on the Texas roadways, it has been reported by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that those between ages 18 and 34 account for more than 52 percent of those killed in an accident.
It has also been reported that the majority of these incidents take place during the weekend. With spring break having arrived or being around the corner, TxDOT has urged those celebrating the break to take it easy.
One thing that TxDOT has been promoting is called PASS (Person Appointed to Stay Sober). They want those going to parties or bars to plan ahead and avoid driving after drinking.
The PASS campaign was kicked off on February 27 and is interactive. As part of this campaign, TxDOT will have a traveling PASS Booth. In this booth, visitors or students can take a photo with varying backgrounds. Some backgrounds include being able to pose as a “drunk driver,” “partier,” or a “sober driver.”
Drunk driving accidents cause numerous fatal crashes across Texas and the US. This campaign was partly designed to try to reduce the more than 25,000 alcohol-related crashes in Texas in 2010—or the more than 1,700 injuries and 1,100 deaths.
Along with TxDOT, the Austin auto accident lawyers at Straight Law ask that you take advantage of PASS while celebrating this spring.
In only the first 10 weeks in 2012 in Austin, there have already been eight deaths from pedestrians or bicyclists being struck by vehicles. Some of these pedestrians include a 61-year-old father, a 53-year-old patent law firm administrator, and a kindergartener.
Among these deaths and injuries, one-third were from hit-and-run incidents. This is 50 percent more than the national average. Also, only one of these incidents occurred during daylight hours.
The injury and deaths from car-pedestrian incidents are raising concern, partly because the traffic fatalities overall are decreasing. For example, there were 43 fatalities in 2005 and 32 in 2011. This is a reduction of 25 percent. This is compared to an 83 percent increase in car-pedestrian deaths in Austin between 2010 and 2011.
Austin usually prides itself as a pedestrian and bicycle friendly city. Austin even dedicated 15 percent of the $90 million transportation bond issued in 2010 to improve safety for the disabled, bikers, and pedestrians.
The city has been working for some time to improve and enforce pedestrian safety. One of the actions that the city is taking is using sting operations. There will be plain-clothed officers posing as pedestrians in some of the most dangerous intersections. These officers will keep an eye out and enforce traffic violations in the targeted areas.
The Travis County car crash lawyers from Straight Law offer our condolences to the families of those who have been fatally injured in these tragic accidents.
A recently reported car crash in Williamson County has left two soldiers dead. To date, the driver of the vehicle has been charged and alcohol was determined to be involved, investigators stated.
The accident occurred at 3:16 a.m. on February 4th when a 2008 Nissan hit a tree after going off of curve in the road. Reportedly, the car had a total of three passengers when the accident occurred. After hitting the tree, the car eventually came to rest on the shoulder of the road.
One of those killed in this accident was 24-year old soldier Spc. Keandre Mosha Hall. Hall passed away on February 14th after being taken to a local hospital. Hall was stationed at Fort Hood at the time of the accident.
21-year-old Spc. Joshua Winn, who was also a passenger, was declared dead at the scene of the accident. The deaths of Hill and Winn were reported by the Department of Public Safety.
The driver of the vehicle in this one-car accident was 26-year-old Ida Marie Fruster. The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office stated that she was jailed on the 23rd and is being charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle. She also has a $60,000 bond.
The Williamson County car wreck lawyers from Straight Law offer our condolences in this tragic accident.
