Arturo Alvarez Injured in Truck Accident on US-277 in Taylor County, TX
Taylor County, TX — July 12, 2022, 65-year-old Arturo Alvarez was seriously when two commercial trucks collided at a Taylor County intersection.
According to reports the incident happened around 8:40 a.m. on U.S. Highway 277 at Farm to Market Road 707. Preliminary investigation suggests Alvarez was driving a Freightliner tractor-trailer east on US-277 as a Sterling Trucks 18-wheeler was northbound on FM 707.
Reports say the Sterling truck failed to yield at the intersection where Alvarez had the right-of-way. The northbound truck entered the crossing and Alvarez veered left to avoid it. The Freightliner left the road and crashed into a nearby chain-link fence before coming to rest on the shoulder of southbound FM 707.
Alvarez suffered serious injuries in the accident. The other truck's two occupants were unhurt.
No further information is currently available.
Commentary on Arturo Alvarez Accident in Taylor County
Reports seem pretty clear that one truck driver failed to yield to the other and that led to an accident with injury. Some may see the details as they're presented and think there's little else to say before the at-fault driver's company admits responsibility and tries to make things right with the victim.
As always, when I see that sentiment I have to be the downer who encourages a little more caution. Commercial vehicle accidents are rarely as simple as they can seem at first, and that's just as true when big rigs crash with one another (or almost crash, as the Taylor County incident suggest).
Here's what I mean: Trucking companies have a great deal to lose if they're found responsible for an accident, which means far more often than not they'll fight like hell not to be. Most truck drivers are under strict instructions to call their companies before anyone else--including police or medics--after a wreck. Companies then rush out a team of lawyers and investigators to case the scene and find details they can use to protest their innocence.
I don't mean to be all doom and gloom here; this outlook comes from decades of working on truck accidents, many of which involved representing commercial drivers hurt by one another. The best way to cut through all the arguments and back-and-forth of a wreck like this is to show up armed with plenty of indisputable facts about exactly what went down. When a company's arguments are shut down by objective proof, many people hurt by their employees' misbehavior are able to get the help they deserve.
