Rollover Accidents Kill Many Texans

Rollover Accident Kills Two from Beeville, Texas by Texas Rollover Lawyer Justin A. Hill

Rollovers accident account for a full one-third (33%) of all traffic fatalities. Approximately 10,000 people die a year in rollover fatality accidents.  Technology is available to automotive manufacturers to increase vehicle safety and survivability in rollovers and increase the stability of vehicles.  SaferAutomobiles.com is committed to highlighting technological and safety improvements that make vehicles safer.  Real accidents emphasizing the need for quick and effective action on the part of automotive manufacturers must be noted.  A few recent rollover accidents help illustrate the need for action.

KIIITV.com reports:

Two teens are dead, and three others are injured during a late night accident in Bee County.  It happened just after 11 O’clock Friday night along FM 888.  That’s about 5 miles south of Beeville.  DPS says there were five people inside of a two door Pontiac traveling south when the vehicle began to drift into the other lane.  Officials say the driver tried to correct the car, but ended up loosing control and rolling the vehicle.  The car hit a utility pole and a property fence.  16 year old Mariano Virata and 16 year old Reagan Hardy were pronounced dead at the scene.  The driver, 18 year old Christian Moron and 15 year old Brandon Jimenez were taken to hospitals in San Antonio for treatment.  Another passenger, 16 year old Bethany Bernal was rushed to Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Caller.com reports:

Two teens were killed and three others injured about 11:08 p.m. Friday in a one-vehicle rollover on Farm-to-Market Road 888 five miles south of Beeville, said Texas Department of Public Safety officials.  All five youths were from Beeville, officials said.  Two males, Mariano Virata and Reagan Hardy, both 16, were pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Raul Casares.  Driver Christian Moron, 18, and passenger Brandon Jimenez, 15, were airlifted to University Hospital in San Antonio with scrapes and scratches, according to the report by Trooper Jazmin Garcia.  Bethany Bernal, 16, was taken by HALO-Flight to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial with critical head injuries, said Walter Gibson, flight paramedic. She was in intensive care early Saturday, Gibson said.  Moron was driving a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire southbound in the center of the roadway, as another vehicle approached northbound, according to the report. He lost control while veering into the southbound lane and the vehicle rolled over striking a utility pole at a property fence, then came to rest upside down, the report said.  All of the teens were wearing seat belts except Hardy, according to the report.

Lubbockonline.com reports:

A Brownfield man was killed in a one-vehicle rollover early Saturday morning in Terry County.  Adam Murphy Hudson, 23, was pronounced dead at Brownfield Regional Medical Center about 1:15 a.m. Saturday – about an hour after the crash on Old Lamesa Road 0.2 miles southeast of Brownfield, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Investigators believe Hudson was eastbound on Old Lamesa Road in a 1993 Buick Regal when he took a turn too fast, causing the vehicle to roll several times before coming to rest in the east-side ditch of the road. Hudson was not wearing his seat belt, according to the DPS.

TheDailyLight.com reports:

Two Dallas residents were transported by ground ambulance to area hospitals Friday afternoon after the Isuzu Rodeo they traveling in rolled over. The single-vehicle accident occurred at about 11:39 a.m. near the 405 exit in the northbound lanes of Interstate 35E.  “The vehicle was northbound and there were two occupants inside the vehicle. Both the passenger and driver sustained serious injuries and were transported to the hospital. CareFlite was called but they were disregarded,” Waxahachie Police Department patrolman Richard Powell said.

This Blog has discussed rollover issues many times including here, here, and here.  Rollover prevention and creating stronger roofs continues to be a goal of automobile safety advocates and should be a high priority for vehicle manufacturers.  Citing the report above, “Nearly 10,000 people a year are killed in rollovers. When vehicles roll, their roofs hit the ground, deform, and crush. Stronger roofs crush less, reducing the risk of injury from contact with the roof itself. Roofs that don’t collapse help keep people inside vehicles when they roll. Rollovers are much more common for SUVs and pickup trucks than for cars. In 2008 almost half (47 percent) of all pickup occupants killed in crashes were in trucks that rolled over. This compares with 58 percent of deaths in SUVs and 25 percent in cars.”

If someone you know was injured or killed as the result of a rollover accident, encourage them to immediately contact a competent attorney for advice. It is extremely important to do this quickly to ensure that evidence is preserved, the rollover scene is surveyed and preserved, statements are taken, and the rights of all are protected.