One Killed in Rollover Accident on State Highway 9 in Coryell County, TX
Coryell County, TX — November 28, 2022, one person died in a multi-vehicle ejection accident on State Highway 9 in Coryell County.
Authorities say the incident happened Monday afternoon along Highway 9 at the Interstate 14 interchange. Preliminary investigation suggests the victim's Dodge pickup, a Chevy pickup, and a Nissan Maxima were all merging onto the interstate from eastbound SH 9 when the Chevy driver swerved to avoid debris in the road. The Chevy then hit the Nissan and the Dodge. After the impact the Dodge spun out, overturned, and rolled several times.
The Dodge driver, reportedly not wearing a seat belt, was ejected during the rollover. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. No other injuries were reported.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Auto Accident on SH 9 in Coryell County
People may think the information in preliminary reports is pretty much all there is to know here. A driver swerved to avoid something, hit two other vehicles, and potentially triggered the rollover that took someone's life. Maybe that's the sum of what happened here, but long years in this field have taught me things are rarely as straightforward as a few sentences in the news or police reports make them sound.
There are still many variables to this accident that need to be clarified before the whole story is known. What was the debris in the road? Is it possible to tell how it got there or who/what dropped it? Was it large enough or dangerous enough to pose a serious hazard to the Chevy? Could the Chevy driver have taken other action instead of swerving wide around it? Was it visible from a distance? Was the driver paying attention while approaching it?
A lot of that sounds directed at a specific person, so let me be clear that I'm just trying to address unknown variables. There are other questions that need attention too. For instance: Are authorities certain the victim didn't have a seat belt on, or is it possible the belt malfunctioned or broke during the rollover? That happens more often than folks realize, and too often it gets overlooked because police just see the belt unbuckled when they get there and assume someone didn't use it.
All I'm saying here is what I so often do: When people are hurt or killed in an accident, the only right thing to do is investigate thoroughly and learn how and why that happened. Sometimes the reason for that seems clear at first, but if decisions are made prematurely then crucial information might slip away unnoticed. Will police efforts alone be enough to ensure the whole story is learned in Coryell County?
