Five Injured in Cow, Car Accident on US 62/82 near Ropes, TX
Hockley County, TX -- January 17, 2023, five people were injured following an accident where a vehicle hitting a cow caused a chain reaction.
Officials said they responded to the area of US 62/82 and Foster Road at around 7:30 a.m. According to initial reports, a vehicle traveling along the highway crashed into a cow. This left the vehicle stationary, following which another vehicle crashed into the first one.
Five people were taken to the hospital, and injuries did not appear to be life threatening. The cow died in the accident. Right now, additional details are unavailable.

Within the borders of urban DFW, one would be surprised to see any kind of livestock in the roadway. But driver about an hour in any direction and the idea becomes much more reasonable. It's not all that unusual for cows and other animals to wander onto the highways, and I get calls about such accidents from time to time. Those folks always want to know if the owner of the animal can be responsible for the crash. As usual, the answer is that it depends.
Generally speaking, animals are going to do animal things. A horse or a cow can find their way over or through a fence, and it's not like their owner can have drones spying on them at all times. However, there are situations where a property owner fails to maintain a fence line, leaves a gate open, or otherwise engages in avoidable behavior which could reasonably lead to an animal getting onto the roadway. In those situations, the owner can certainly be confronted over their behavior.
Whether or not this incident was avoidable remains to be seen, but it would certainly be prudent to find out where the cow came from and how it got to the roadway.
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