Rollover Accidents in Texas

Rollover Accidents in 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 for automotive manufacturers to increase vehicle safety and survivability in rollovers.  SaferAutomobiles.com is committed to highlighting technological and safety improvements that make vehicles safer.  However, real accidents emphasizing the need for quick and effective action on the part of automotive manufacturers must be noted.  Some recent tragic rollover accidents, again, illustrate the need for Safer Automobiles.

From KBTX.com:

A Somerville man is dead following a single vehicle rollover early Saturday morning.  According to the DPS, Christopher Flores, 49, was driving west on FM 60 around 2 a.m. They say for reasons unknown, he lost control of his Ford Explorer just west of FM 3058. The vehicle flipped several times before coming to rest on the drivers side. Flores was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the only one inside the Explorer.

From KHOU.com:

Police are investigating a fatal accident which claimed the lives of two women on Saturday. It happened on Red Bluff at Genoa in Pasadena.   Police said around 10:30 p.m., two women were traveling north in a pickup truck on Red Bluff when they, for some unknown reason, lost control and skidded off the road to the right.  The truck went into a field, crashed through a barbed wire fence and rolled over several times.  One woman died at the scene and the other was transported to the hospital, where she later died.  Police are trying to figure out why the women skidded to the right. They are investigating to see if they were possibly cut off by another vehicle.

From Amarillo.com:

A Stinnett woman was killed in a one-vehicle accident early Thursday morning.  Charlotte Shipley, 48, was southbound in a Chevrolet Blazer on Texas Highway 136 about three miles south of Stinnett, said authorities with the Texas Department of Public Safety.  Shipley ran off the right side of the road, overcorrected and rolled her vehicle, which came to rest on its top, DPS said. Shipley had been wearing her seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Shipley was alone in her vehicle.

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