David Hart Killed in Auto Accident on US-96 in Silsbee, TX
Silsbee, TX — December 8, 2022, 48-year-old David Hart was killed in a single-vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 96 in Hardin County.
Authorities say the incident happened around 3:25 p.m. on the US-96 bypass near Gentry Drive. Preliminary investigation suggests Hart was driving a Subaru Outback north on Bypass 96 when he allegedly left the paved roadway while trying to pass another vehicle. When re-entering the road the Subaru lost traction and slid sideways from the right shoulder into the median. It hit a cable barrier and overturned, then rolled one or more times before coming to rest upside-down.
Hart was ejected in the rollover and suffered fatal injuries.
No further information is currently available.
Over the years I've seen time and again how quick people can be to make certain assumptions about what causes single-vehicle accidents. A lot of that may be due to how common things like speeding, distraction, and even impairment ara, but it's rarely the best idea to make up one's mind immediately while there could still be more to learn about what happened.
For instance, some reports suggest police think the crash victim was acting recklessly on the highway just before the accident. I have no specific reason to doubt them, but I can't help but wonder if they considered other possible explanations like a medical emergency or a vehicle malfunction sending it out of control. Are those particularly common? No, but they still warrant careful consideration and the victim deserves the benefit of the doubt.
My point is really that just about every crash is unique, yet in many situations investigators try to make them fit certain generalities they've seen in other accidents. Maybe things happened in Silsbee just as they were described, but that man's family deserves to know every other possible explanation was carefully considered as well. The most important thing is to find them real answers.
