A man in a wheelchair was hit by an 18-wheeler on I-10 and Federal Road outbound last Thursday, August 9th, 2018, at around 3:20 p.m.
The man was promptly taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital by paramedics with the Houston Fire Department. Investigators said he suffered from poor eyesight and was struck by the left rear tires of the truck.
The truck driver told the authorities he looked both ways before making the turn. The truck was operated by Gulf Winds International, a faith-based warehouse and distribution company based out of Fort Worth, with operations in Dallas and Houston.
A 2015 study published in the online journal BMJ Open found that people in wheelchairs are three times more likely to die in road traffic collisions than the rest of the population. A researcher involved in the study said that a greater proportion of these incidents occur at locations without traffic controls or crosswalks.
Research indicates that improving pedestrian infrastructure and offering well-constructed curb cuts, ramps, and sidewalks could reduce the number of injuries suffered by those in a wheelchair.
Driver behavior is also a significant contributing factor in collisions between vehicles and people in wheelchairs. In the study cited above, researchers found that a driver’s failure to yield right-of-way was noted in more than 20% of crashes, and no crash avoidance maneuvers were detected in more than 75% of crashes.