A pickup truck driver somehow ended up driving into oncoming traffic on the Hardy Toll Road in Houston last night, eventually crashing head-on into a tow truck. The pickup was driving northbound in the southbound lanes, the crash happened right around midnight. Fortunately both drivers are injured but expected to survive.
The alleged wrong-way driving pickup
A woman was killed in yet another wrong way accident in the Houston area. A passenger car was heading south in the northbound lanes of Highway 146 in Baytown, TX as the female driver of a white van was coming over an overpass. She apparently attempted to avoid the collision but there wasn’t time. The van driver was helicoptered to Memorial Hermann but sadly she died from her injuries. According to KHOU the wrong way driver was taken to hospital with serious internal injuries. The accident will be under investigation, but in any nighttime wrong way crash, drunk driving is always going to be suspected.
For the second day in a row there has been a major head-on crash on a Houston freeway caused by a wrong-way driver. The crash happened on the Eastex Freeway before Cavalcade Street around 3:00 a.m. Tuesday January 13th. The wrong way driver, a male, was heading northbound in the southbound lanes at the time of the collision. The victim was seriously injured and transported to Ben Taub. Police are investigating to determine whether alcohol was a factor, as it very frequently is in wrong-way accidents.
Scene of this morning's wrong-way accident
At least five people were killed this morning in a collision on Beltway 8 at Wilson Road: one of the drivers involved was driving the wrong directions on the freeway. HCSO deputies said a sixth person was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital and the wrong-way driver was taken to Ben Taub. Click2Houston’s report is here. KHOU’s story is here and reports that the wrong way driver’s vehicle was a flatbed pickup truck; a photograph on KHOU’s web site appears to show a logo on the passenger door of the pickup, indicating it is a commercial vehicle. ABC Channel 13’s report states the victims were four adults and one child. The victims’ vehicle, a white-colored Ford F150, caught fire after the crash.
UPDATE: the wrong-way driver has been identified as Efraim Carmona – Carmona has been charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault.
UPDATE 2: Efraim Carmona’s blood alcohol content was reportedly .23, almost 3 times the legal limit of .08, according to an article on Channel 2’s web site. Carmona reportedly did not cooperate with the police investigation and would not answer question, although there were multiple alcohol containers in his vehicle. TABC is investigating to see if Carmona was drinking at a bar before the crash. The sole survivor of the crash aside from Carmona was an adolescent girl who is in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Photo credit: KHOU
Photo credit: KHOU
All main lanes of the Gulf Freeway south (I-45 S) were closed this morning near Almeda Genoa Road after a fatal head-on crash. A spokesperson for HPD said a Chrysler 300 sedan was driving the wrong way when it hit a police officer’s SUV head-on. Both drivers died at the scene. The officer who was killed was not with HPD, but a smaller local agency. The crash happened around 2:40 a.m. according to Transtar. The officer, who was apparently on his way to work, has not been identified yet pending notification of family members.
Photo credit: KHOU Channel 11 News
Photo credit: KHOU Channel 11 News
Photo credit: KHOU Channel 11 News
A motorcycle rider was injured in an accident this morning when he was hit by a wrong-way driver in the HOV lane of the Southwest Freeway (US 59) during this morning’s rush hour. The accident happened around 8:30 a.m. at 59 and Hillcroft. METRO officials say the wrong-way driver was elderly, and that after the motorcycle was struck by the wrong-way vehicle it then hit a third vehicle. The motorcyclist was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston.
Photo credit: Tim Wetzel / KHOU 11 News
An early morning accident involving several vehicles and at least one death in blocking several southbound lanes of US 59 this morning. Last night’s severe thunderstorms in the Houston area may have been a factor, but Channel 13’s article doesn’t state a cause for the wreck.
Update: Channel 11 is reporting that this was a wrong way accident. The accident happened near the George R. Brown convention center when a pickup truck entered the Eastex Freeway heading the wrong way and hit a car head-on, after which a third car hit both those vehicles. The driver of the wrong-way pickup truck, a woman, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver hit head-on was in critical condition.