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Tractor-trailer collides with pickup on FM 580
The driver of a 1999 Ford F250 extended cab pickup, James Horton of Blanco, was airlifted from the scene. At Scott & White, he underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding, Sgt. Stephen Bynum of the Texas Department of Public Safety said. During an interview Tuesday afternoon, Bynum said Horton was in the hospital's intensive care unit in critical condition. He was awaiting further surgery for a fractured pelvis. The accident occurred at 7:13 a.m. near the intersection of FM 580 and County Road 3430. A 1995 Ford truck tractor driven by Jason Stansberry of Waco had picked up a load of gravel at a plant off FM 1478 (Naruna Road) southwest of Lampasas earlier and was northbound on FM 580 headed to Waco, Bynum said.
"Mr. Horton did everything he could," Bynum said. "He took evasive action to the right and went into the southbound right of way and into a bar ditch." A witness reported that the tires on the truck and trailer's right side were off the pavement, the DPS official said. The trailer turned over, losing its load of rock and striking the Ford pickup -- shearing off both doors on the driver's and leftrear passenger's side of the pickup. Horton, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected. The pickup came to rest upright in the bar ditch, while the truck came to a stop on the roadway. "It never did overturn," Bynum said of the truck. A spring hanger on right-front tire of the truck broke from the force of the weight when the truck came back down on the pavement, Bynum said. Shortly afterward, the Lampasas DPS officer and a local ambulance arrived at the scene at the same time. Seeing the extent of Horton's injuries, "We immediately called for an air ambulance," said Bynum. A passenger in the pickup, Matthew Rainbolt of Evant, sustained minor injuries and did not require transport. Stansberry was uninjured, Bynum said. The traffic scene was not cleared until after noon, as an investigation into the accident was conducted. Local DPS troopers have worked similar accidents in the same vicinity over the past several years, Bynum said. Northbound trucks with too much speed and carrying a load of rock come around the sharp corner on two wheels, the Lampasas lawenforcement official said. In Tuesday's accident, the truck driven by Stansberry was following another big truck with a full load, Bynum said. The driver of the trailing truck had never traveled the stretch of FM 580, the sergeant added. Stansberry was a new driver, having been in his capacity just a week, Bynum said. The driver of the truck with a load of some 80,000 pounds was cited for being on the wrong side of the road and for violating his driver's license restrictions, which required him to be wearing glasses. "We in law enforcement are concerned about truck traffic on farm-to-market roads and are doing our best to regulate the truck traffic," Bynum said. Added the veteran official: "We are trying to get additional personnel to complete Level 2 Department of Transportation inspections." Such a federal designation allows law-enforcement officers to inspect truck drivers, their paperwork, their vehicles and the loads they are carrying, he said. "We enforce federal regulations," Bynum said. At the accident scene Tuesday, the DPS official was assisted by Trooper Calvin Boyd of Burnet, who inspected the truck. Also on the scene were a STAT Air helicopter from Scott & White, the Lampasas Fire Department, Kempner Volunteer Fire Department, Texas Department of Transportation, the Lampasas County Sheriff's Department and Capital Ambulance. |
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