January 9, 2012
A Thursday afternoon wreck killed one Amarillo bicyclist and left another critically injured, according to Amarillo Globe News.
At about 4:10 p.m., a 46-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman, both from Amarillo, were riding their bikes on the westbound Interstate 40 service road. A westbound 2008 Toyota Tundra driven by a 78-year-old man of Amarillo struck them from behind.
The male bicyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, and the woman was transported to Northwest Texas Hospital in critical condition.
The driver of the Toyota was “impaired by the sun” and did not see the bicyclists, Department of Public Safety officials said. Both riders were wearing helmets.
Ken Graham, president of Share the Road!, said, “[They] were enjoying a bicycle ride on one of Amarillo’s most popular bicycling roads, a road used almost every day of the year in all kinds of weather by local bicyclists. It’s unimaginable to me that any local motorists would not be aware that bicycles were out there on that frontage road going both directions.”
Local governments can do more to prevent accidents from happening in the future, Graham said.
In our next blog on Wednesday, we will give you some statistics about bicyclist, motorcyclist, and pedestrian accidents in Texas and suggest some safe practices for all of us.
The Texas personal injury lawyers at Terry Bryant Accident & Injury Law may be able to help.
