POLK COUNTY, TX – Cbs19.tv writes that a man from Chicago was injured in a crash on Monday, January 21, 2019, in Polk County Texas. The incident took place at about 3:30 in the afternoon on U.S. 59.
Reports indicate that Edward Johnson, 56, of Nacogdoches was driving northbound in a 2008 Dodge pickup truck when he rear-ended a northbound semi-truck.
The Dodge then veered off the road and hit several trees before stopping. Johnson did not suffer any injuries in the crash.
Two passengers were in the Dodge. The passengers were identified as Hope Williams, 54 and Etta Skinner, 48. Williams was transported to the hospital via airlift. The authorities did not report the nature or severity of her injuries. It is not clear whether Skinner was injured in the collision.
The man driving the semi, Uriel Gonzalez, 30, of Chicago, was transported to the hospital with injuries. There was a passenger in the semi as well, but that individual was not injured.
When passenger vehicles and large trucks are involved in collisions, the most likely victims are people traveling in the smaller vehicles. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), fatal crashes involving people in passenger vehicles and large trucks result in the people in the smaller vehicle dying about 97 percent of the time. Large truck occupants are most at risk in crashes involving another large truck.
Rear-end crashes are common and often avoidable but can be deadly. These accidents kill around 17,000 people in the United States every year. The majority of these accidents are caused by drivers failing to pay attention to the road ahead of them.
