Terrence Vereecke Killed in Truck Accident on TX-115 in Andrews County
Andrews County, TX — June 5, 2022, Terrence Vereecke was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer on State Highway 115 in Andrews County.
According to reports the incident happened Sunday afternoon along TX-115 at Farm to Market Road 181. Preliminary investigation suggests Vereecke was driving a Toyota C-HR north on FM 181 when he allegedly failed to yield the right of way to highway traffic at the TX-115 intersection. When his vehicle entered the highway it was hit by an eastbound Freightliner 18-wheeler.
Vereecke was airlifted to a Lubbock hospital where he was pronounced dead on June 8.
No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Terrence Vereecke Accident in Andrews County
It seems traffic on FM 181 is meant to yield to vehicles on Highway 115--fairly standard when a highway and a local road meet. It's not clear why the victim might not have yielded to the semi-truck above, but before anyone blames him for making a mistake it's important to consider other possible explanations.
For example: Could the victim's vehicle have had some kind of issue that kept it from fully stopping? Was the driver in good health? Did something block his view of the approaching big rig? Was signage obscured or missing? Were there any other vehicles around at the time? Could bad weather or hazardous road conditions have been a factor? Does that area have a history of similar crashes? Is the intersection designed poorly? Setting aside right-of-way for a moment, could the truck driver have done anything differently to avoid the crash?
I'm not trying to complicate things or unfairly blame anyone. I just want to make sure every possibility is properly considered. Unusual things contribute to accidents all the time but they often get overlooked during police investigations. We even saw a wreck in West Texas where someone allegedly ran a stop sign and fatally crashed with an 18-wheeler, only for us to find out later that TxDOT crews removed those stop signs during construction. The victim didn't even know he had to stop, but until that was learned police reports unfairly blamed him.
It's pretty unlikely the same thing happened in Andrews County, but the point is many crashes aren't as simple as they appear and crucial details are often overlooked or misunderstood. The victim deserves the benefit of the doubt and his loved ones should know every effort was made to find the whole truth. Will police be thorough enough to get it, or would independent investigators do more to help?
