Update: The name of the man killed in the Ford Focus was released as Larry Salsbury, 62 years old.
San Antonio, TX — There was a fatal accident this morning (Friday, October 3, 2014) between an 18-wheeler and a Ford Focus that claimed the life of the Ford Focus’ driver. Police aren’t releasing the man’s name, but confirmed that he was killed at about 6:00 a.m. this morning when an 18-wheeler truck swerved into his lane.
The accident happened on the far northwest side of San Antonio, along Culebra Road. An 18-wheeler was driving west along Culebra Road early Friday morning when a school bus allegedly pulled out in front of it at Talley Road.
The driver told police that he swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting the bus, but instead crashed head-on into a Ford Focus. The accident killed the driver of the Ford immediately and the 18-wheeler jackknifed, spilling fuel in the process.
The truck driver wasn’t harmed and nobody on the school was hurt either. Right now, there aren’t any charges being filed against the truck driver, but police are still investigating this some more.
The truck driver claims that the school bus pulled out in front of him and that he swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid an accident.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
It’s my understand that the 18-wheeler was trying to do a good thing by taking evasive maneuvers to avoid hitting a school bus full of children. While I can certainly appreciate the fact that the trucker was trying to be safe, pulling into oncoming traffic might not have been the best idea. I realize that these decisions are often split-second ones, but if the trucker had even a few moments to react, it’s far better to run off the side of the road (where there’s pretty much just empty fields) than swerve into oncoming traffic, where there’s a fairly good chance you’ll hit another car.
I recently read a post from a truck driver who was saying that it’s always better to crash into anything else than another car, because the chances of the truck driver surviving are much greater than whatever smaller vehicle it hits. Now, I’m guessing that if the news reporter had the chance to talk to the trucking company’s attorneys, they would have said that the school bus is really the cause of this accident. Again, I just can’t imagine a scenario where it’s a good idea to swerve into oncoming traffic like that. If you ask me, this truck driver probably could have taken safer evasive actions and pawning the accident off on the school bus is a low move.
— Grossman Law Offices
