It can be easy to think that if you’re a good driver, you won’t be in a car accident. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
While a driver’s skill and experience has a lot to do with whether he or she can avoid auto accidents, we all know that something totally unexpected could happen that we have no time to avoid.
Tragically, a 64-year-old man from League City, Texas was killed in a wreck last Friday afternoon on the eastbound stretch of I-10 just west of the East Baton Rouge- Ascension Parish line. According to news reports, he was innocently driving when a heavy, six-wheel trailer being pulled by a pickup truck came loose from its hitch.
Just where the trailer lurched free, there was a gap in the cable barrier dividing the two sides of the Interstate. The loose trailer rolled through that gap, across the median, and into the eastbound lanes of traffic.
The Texas man slammed head-on into the trailer. The car accident was unsurvivable.
At last report, officers from the Louisiana State Police were investigating the accident but had not yet determined how the trailer came loose. I-10 was closed for several hours in both directions.
Sometimes, car accidents are unavoidable, but negligence is not. While law enforcement has not said that the pickup truck driver was at fault for this particular accident, we should all reflect on how our care or lack of care may injure others.
Please drive safely, and if you plan to tow a trailer, please take care that it is securely fastened to a proper towing hitch. Lives are at stake.
Sources:
- WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge, “Driver identified in deadly loose trailer crash,” Trey Schmaltz, Dec. 7, 2012
- Ledger-Enquirer, “Loose trailer causes wreck on I-10 in La.; 1 dead,” Associated Press, Dec. 7, 2012
