Justin Baker, 1 Injured in Car Accident in Tyler County, TX
Tyler County, TX -- December 26, 2022, Justin Baker and another person were injured after an accident where their vehicle crashed off-road.
Preliminary details made public by authorities indicate that the crash happened at around 3:30 a.m. along FM 92. 28-year-old Justin Baker was said to be a passenger in a pickup driven by a 20-year-old man. They were going southbound along FM 92 when the pickup somehow ran off-road and crashed into a tree. The pickup then flipped over.
Baker's injuries were said to be incapacitating while the driver's were described as non-incapacitating. The cause of the crash has yet to be confirmed.
That lack of confirmation is an important point to emphasize. Something I talk about repeatedly on this blog is the importance of letting the evidence speak for itself an avoiding jumping to conclusions. Unfortunately, a lot of people need to learn that lesson.
Folks tend to see crashes like this and assume the driver did something wrong. Is that possible? Sure. It's as important to look into things like fatigue or speeding as it is distracted driving or drunk driving. However, it's also important to consider factors which may be a bit less common.
Were there mechanical defects? A tire blowout? Road hazards? Some other driver that left the scene? Name just about any factor, and I bet there's a crash somewhere throughout my career that factor caused--probably several. As such, I try to help people realize that jumping to conclusions isn't going to get people the help they need, especially if there are other explanations authorities could be overlooking.
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