MESSY TEXAS: IT
LEADS THE NATION IN TRUCKING DEATHS AND ACCIDENTS, IT LEADS THE NATION IN FIRE
DEATHS AND SO ON. TRUCKERS ALSO DO NOT
BOTHER OBTAINING PERMITS FOR HAULING HIGHER LOADS. AT LEAST PEOPLE HAVE JOBS.
January
10, 2015 – The more big rigs on the road hauling higher loads,
the more accidents happen. More accidents mean more injuries and deaths.
With the construction and oil boom in Texas comes far
more heavy-duty truck traffic carrying everything from backhoes to crane parts,
from oil rigging to large excavation equipment. “It is no surprise that on a
fairly regular basis a truck rams into a bridge, misses a sharp corner due to
the load being off balance, and turns over on its side, or gets jammed under a
bridge overpass, unable to move. Accidents
like this can be deadly.
One such recent accident involved a backhoe, loaded on
the flat deck of an 18-wheeler, hitting a bridge between Wayside and McCarthy
in the Houston area. When hauling
backhoes, it is common practice to stow the arms angled and tucked in to their
lowest point. That was not the case in this incident and the arms were higher
than they should have been. Luckily, the
only harm done was to the bridge.
Bridges in the area are taking a real beating,
especially within the Loop 610 where numerous bridges have scars to tell the
tales of poorly stowed loads, and where a record of a number of deaths have
occurred at their abutments.
Several deadly accidents are reported on a daily basis
in the great state of Texas. We have
been reporting them here and show pictures of the destruction caused by these
trucks.
Permits for hauling larger loads are mandatory and
trucking companies know this. However,
those same companies may have already hauled larger than usual loads many times
without reprisal. For this reason, companies see the permits as another expense
to be cut where possible. According to
Texas A&M Transportation Institute researcher Dan Middleton, trucking
companies know they need permits to haul larger loads, but “some just don’t
care.” Or they hope they will not get caught.
The major issue here is not just the higher accident
rate, it has to do with the complexities of permitting, policing and trying to
keep track of larger-than-normal loads. Carriers are doubling up to maximize their
transport time and reduce the number of trips made to save money – a move that
may cost someone their life.
The economy in the Houston area is on a significant
upward swing, at least prior to the collapse in the oil and gas prices, and has
resulted in increased truck traffic. In
2013 there were 26 reports detailing lost loads along the highways and byways
around Houston. In 2014 there has been a jump in lost load reports to 36.
The National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration’s 2012 Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that Texas is the
top state in fatal crashes, with 3,021.
It is followed by California with 2,632, Florida with 2,247, North
Carolina with 1,222 and Pennsylvania with 1,211. These five states accounted
for more than a third of the fatal crashes in the entire country.
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EVERYONE WHO
DRIVES IN PENNSYLVANIA’S ROADS KNOWS THAT FRACKING AND OTHER DRILLING
ACTIVITIES CANNOT BE SAFELY ACCOMMODATED BY MUCH OF THE TRAFFIC
INFRASTRUCTURE. THE ROADWAYS HAVE BEEN
DECIMATED BY THE INCREASED FRUCKING TRUCK TRAFFIC
There has been a significant increase in traffic
accidents involving trucks associated with hydraulic fracturing activities in
Pennsylvania and elsewhere. PA, with its
narrow and mountainous, narrow, steep, curvy and badly maintained roadways is
ill-equipped to handle such increased truck traffic and the death and accident
and property damage toll is a start reminder of the cost of this activity. As the local logo in Pennsylvania goes,
“Pennsylvania: find us if you can”; it means that there is a lack of traffic
signs almost everywhere in the state.
This is especially true in small and/or rural communities.
A fiery crash in Susquehanna County last week took the
life of a 27-year-old Marine and father of two young boys. The SUV in which
Staff Sgt. Andrew Stevens was driving reportedly was stopped behind two
fracking trucks when a water truck smashed into the back of him.
The crash caused a chain reaction that sandwiched
Stevens’ SUV between the water truck and the fracking truck in front of him,
according to a published report. The SUV immediately went up in flames and Sgt.
Stevens died at the scene.
An increase in natural gas fracking has led to a spike
in traffic fatalities in towns that find their roadways filled with large
drilling rigs and fracking trucks. Drilling activity increases too quickly for
many small communities to keep pace in making changes in road safety, such as
building new roads, improving or widening existing roads or installing traffic
signals in areas where they might now be needed. The deadly consequences of
this increased and unexpected traffic are seen in the death of Sgt. Andrews and
other fatalities like this across the country.
An Associated Press analysis of traffic deaths and U.S.
census data in six drilling states show that in some places fatalities have
more than quadrupled since 2004, a period when most American roads have become
much safer. According to the Associated Press, the hydraulic-fracturing process
also requires 2,300 to 4,000 truck trips per well to deliver needed fluids,
while older drilling techniques needed many fewer trips.
Texas, a state that has been in the midst of a
multi-year fracking boom, has seen traffic deaths climb as a result. The Texas
Department of Transportation reported that fatal crashes on Texas highways
increased 50 percent from 2009 through 2013. This increase in fatalities came
after decades of declines in Texas, just as the boom in fracking operations was
beginning. Texas led the nation in traffic fatalities in 2012.
The National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration’s 2012 Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that
Pennsylvania is in the top five states in fatal crashes, with 1,211, following
only Texas with 3,021, California with 2,632, Florida with 2,247 and North
Carolina with 1,222. These five states accounted for more than a third of the
fatal crashes in the entire country.
The Associated Press reported that TRAFFIC FATALITIES IN
PENNSYLVANIA DRILLING COUNTIES ROSE 4 PERCENT FROM 2009 TO 2013, while in the
rest of the state they fell 19 percent.
While safer vehicles and highways are helping to improve
traffic safety, we need to help decrease the number of accidents near fracking
sites. Pennsylvania and other states need to work to improve safety in fracking
towns by widening and improving roads and enforcing traffic laws. Although
federal rules limit the amount of time most truckers can drive, the rules are
less strict for drivers in the oil and gas industry. These laws need to be
improved and enforced.
We need to do all we can do to prevent tragedies like
the death of Sgt. Andrew Stevens and others who have fallen victim to fracking
truck accidents. The fracking companies
for sure must pay for improving and repairing the infrastructure that they
pretty much demolish with the heavy trucks they are using.