APRIL 12, 2015
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Police said Good Samaritans were among the five people who
died and 12 others who were hurt in a fiery wreck on a Fort Worth freeway early
Sunday morning.
Investigators said the accident in the westbound lanes of
Interstate 30 involved an 18-wheeler and several other vehicles near the
Oakland Boulevard exit.
Police spokesman Officer Daniel Segura said the chain of
events started with a single-vehicle accident around 2:30 a.m. Other drivers stopped
to help.
Then — an 18-wheeler carrying the Sunday edition of the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram — crashed into the vehicle involved in the original
accident. The truck hit several other cars and people, and the big rig erupted
in flames.
MedStar spokesman Matt Zavadsky said four people were
pronounced dead at the scene near the Oakland Boulevard exit. Police said a
fifth victim died later at a hospital.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office identified two
of the dead as:
Veronica Gonzalez, 43, of Fort Worth
Mary Hernandez, 42, of Fort Worth
At least one other person was hospitalized in critical
condition, and another suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive.
Zavadsky said 10 other patients had minor injuries. Police
said the truck driver was among those hurt, "but he did not appear to have
serious injuries," Segura said in a written statement.
Star-Telegram director of operations Paul Keese confirmed
that a Ryder truck transporting the newspaper was involved in the crash after
it "was already in progress." The Star-Telegram was working to obtain
reprints and get them delivered, Keese said.
The westbound lanes of I-30 remained closed to traffic six
hours after the 2:30 a.m. crash.
Source: http://www.wfaa.com
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http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2015/03/united-states-still-has-one-of-highest.html
UNITED STATES STILL
HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES IN THE WORLD:
34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.
Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States
has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people.
Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.
Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV,
despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of
the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty
percent more people die compared to the national death rate.
Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each
year. In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the
roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.
However, the number of injured is rising. Roughly 2.5
million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per
year. That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive
is injured every year.
It is worse than a war zone out there.
So, please be safe and be on the lookout for weaving-through-the-traffic
drivers, crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition
drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers,
drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers,
talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers,
tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers,
putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, elderly drivers, and so on.
