One Injured in Crash with 18-Wheeler on Butcher Road in Waxahachie, TX
Waxahachie, TX -- April 22, 2022, a 30-year-old man was injured in a crash with a tractor-trailer on Butcher Road in Waxahachie.
Authorities say the incident happened around 1:40 p.m. on Butcher Road (FM 387) near Interstate 35 East. Preliminary investigation suggests a Kenworth tractor-trailer and a Mercedes-Benz sedan were both attempting to exit a parking lot near Butcher Road. The truck driver approached Butcher in the center/left-turn lane but made a wide right turn at the intersection. The driver told investigators he didn't see the Mercedes pull up to the right side of the truck and started to turn, at which point the sedan collided with the right side of the semi-trailer.
The Mercedes driver received minor injuries in the crash. No other injuries were reported.
No further information is currently available.
Commentary on Truck Accident at Butcher Road in Waxahachie
Reports make things seem like this crash was largely the truck driver's fault for making an unsafe turn from the wrong lane. Neither the driver nor his employer are required to agree with that, however, so as always it would be best to conduct a careful and thorough investigation of the crash and gather all its facts. Making sure only those tell the story is one of the best ways to make sure there aren't any "creative" re-imaginings of what happened.
Of course that may be mostly academic. The victim may not have much interest in pursuing a claim against the trucking firm if he escaped mostly unharmed. I certainly hope that's true, of course, but I also know from long experience in my field that preliminary reports don't always have things straight when they call injuries "minor."
Here's an example: Not long ago I worked on a case where a man's supposedly-minor back injury turned to paralyzing pain within a week of his crash with a big rig. Scans showed that his "sore back" was actually a ruptured spinal disk and its effects just took a short while to really show. Not only did that injury require extensive testing and surgery, but it also took months of legal battles with the at-fault company's insurer before they agreed to help. Little about his experience was "minor."
I hope nothing like that happens after the Waxahachie accident and there's no particular reason to think it will. However, the possibility that things aren't quite what they seem is one of the reasons I always tell folks they need to take every truck wreck seriously--even if its impact seems minimal. At worst a victim is overprepared and no action is necessary, which is always better than the opposite.
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