As road fatalities are decreasing throughout the country, they continue to drastically increase in Texas. The cause of this increase is due to one thing- fracking. With the boom in gas drilling in Texas, our roads have become crowded with 18 wheelers and other large commercial vehicles. Many of our highways are in disrepair or simply not designed to handle these large 18 wheelers, especially at the volume necessary to serve the fracking industry. Compounding this problem are exhausted truck drivers and oil and gas field workers driving these highways on a daily basis. This has been a recipe for horrible tragedies, including a drastic increase of accidents resulting in fatalities of three or more. These dangerous highways are common in the Barnett Shale area where multiple fatality trucking accidents are extremely high at 13, but none seem to be worse than a stretch of road in the Eagle Ford Shale near Tilden and Three Rivers that has had 21 fatal accidents since 2011 despite having no major cities on the 111 mile stretch of road. State wide Texas has seen multiple fatality accidents of 3 or more people increase from 72 to 148 since 2010, with 81 such fatal accidents at the midpoint this year.
There really does not seem to be any steps from our state leaders to attempt to address this deadly problem on Texas roads. But that does not mean that those who have suffered injuries or the death of a loved one should not hold these divers and companies responsible. The Texas trucking accident attorneys at Lovins Law have the experience to take on large trucking companies and oil and gas companies that make our highways unnecessarily dangerous. Give us a call today for a free consultation to discuss your rights.
