Houston, TX — There was a serious wreck this past Friday morning (October 16, 2015) that left a DPS trooper with minor injuries after his patrol car was hit by a tanker truck. This happened at the intersection of Genoa Red Bluff Road and Space Center Boulevard, at the Exxon gas station’s parking lot.
As the news reports tell it, a DPS trooper was driving along Genoa Red Bluff that mooning when a large tanker truck owned by U.S. Lime Company tried to make a left-hand turn out of the parking lot onto Genoa Red Bluff Road.
Due to heavy fog that morning, however, the truck driver couldn’t see very well and ended up blocking the eastbound lanes of Genoa Red Bluff Road, which is when the DPS trooper’s patrol car crashed underneath the tanker portion of the truck.
Though the accident was quite severe and resulted in total damage to the DPS trooper’s patrol car, the trooper himself was only slightly harmed.
The truck driver wasn’t harmed. It’s not clear what happened here yet, but one news source is claiming that the tanker truck had the right of way at the time, which doesn’t quite make sense if it was making a left turn. This source also said that U.S. Lime Company didn’t have any “glaring driving violations” with the DOT. Hopefully, this will all be clarified later.
Map of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
When researching this U.S. Lime Company, which appears to be based here in Dallas, I found that while they don’t have any glaring driving violations on their record, they have more than plenty vehicle maintenance violations. To be exact, the DOT puts them in the 94th percentile (94%) of similarly-sized companies for the most vehicle maintenance violations. Folks, that’s a lot of maintenance violations, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think this company just isn’t keen on keeping their trucks roadworthy. Perhaps it’s due to the cost of repairs, forgetfulness, or just plain laziness, but that has to change. We can’t have dangerous tanker trucks on our roads & highways, because more people will get hurt.
That also makes me wonder if there are any other skeletons in their closet, so to speak. If this tanker truck driver is investigated along with his company, will it be discovered that they have other safety issues that might be putting folks in danger?
— Grossman Law Offices
