4 Teens Injured in Collision with 18-Wheeler on Aldine Bender Rd in Houston, TX
Houston, TX — November 10, 2022, four teenagers were injured when their car crashed into a semi-truck's trailer on Houston's Northside.
Authorities say the incident happened around 10:10 p.m. near Aldine Bender and Henry roads. Preliminary investigation suggests a Honda Civic was traveling north on Henry when it allegedly failed to stop at a sign at Aldine Bender. The car continued forward and crashed into the trailer of an eastbound International 18-wheeler, then became wedged underneath. The truck dragged the car around 50 years before coming to rest.
The Civic's 17-year-old driver and three teen passengers were injured, two seriously, in the crash. The truck driver was unhurt.
No further information is currently available.
I've noticed over the years that when certain elements are mentioned by investigators or the news, people start to tune everything else out. The most common references that seem to trigger that are "single-vehicle," which isn't an issue here, "alcohol," which investigators also didn't mention, and "teen driver"—which the Honda's operator was in Houston. Knowing that a young person was at the wheel may have been enough for some to jump straight to some unfortunate conclusions about inexperience or recklessness being responsible for the accident.
However, rushing to judgment that way means potentially missing other critical information. For instance, Houston authorities mentioned the Honda allegedly had "defective or no brakes." It's unclear how they determined that, but if they're right that certainly changes the story a great deal. Vehicle malfunctions are responsible for far more crashes than folks realize, and many of those crashes end up blamed on people who had little to no control over what happened.
To be clear, I wasn't there and I don't have special inside knowledge of how or why things went the way they did. I just know from long experience that things are rarely as simple as they may seem in a wreck like this, and because of that it's always best to investigate carefully and let only the facts do the talking in the end. I hope for the sake of those kids and their families that's how Houston authorities treated this matter.
