Eagle Ford fatal crashes up 40 percent

[TexasTowelie]

KARNES CITY — Fatal traffic wrecks increased 40 percent in the Eagle Ford Shale region last year, with preliminary data showing what everyone already knew anecdotally: the oil and gas boom has made South Texas roads more dangerous.

There were 248 traffic fatalities in the region last year, compared with 177 the year before, according numbers released Friday by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The number of crashes in which people suffered both serious and fatal injuries also rose, but by just 1.9 percent, from 2,673 such crashes in 2011 to 2,723 last year.

Just 9 percent of the crashes involved commercial vehicles.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/energy/article/Eagle-Ford-fatal-crashes-up-40-percent-4359356.php .

[font color=green]I doubt that the statement about 9% of the crashes involved commercial vehicles is correct based upon the news accounts that I read from the local newspaper in that area. According to the editor, the DPS does not record this information about traffic accidents so a number of accidents involving service vehicles (primarily pickup trucks) are being misclassified in the analysis. The editor estimated that about two-thirds of the accidents involved vehicles related to the Eagle Ford Shale boom.[/font]

[mbperrin]

1. Too many hours of work, too much emphasis on hurry hurry, and too much meth

in the field. Always has been.

Not the kind of folks you'd invite to a kid's birthday party.

[susanr516]

2. I drive through Karnes City several times a year

I'm surprised the numbers aren't higher. The roads are totally inadequate for the amount of traffic. The highway isn't divided and often is only 2 lanes wide. Oil companies have cut private roads off the highway at least once every quarter mile. Many, many, many tractor-trailers, often carrying over-sized loads, one right after the other. I drove from Corpus Christi to Austin in February; took 181 to Karnes City, then 80 to Luling and 183 on in. It was really scary; so many big rigs, so much cross traffic, that I drove home on the interstate. At least there was a divided highway the whole way.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I know that route pretty well.

I used to go from George West to Three Rivers to Kenedy when my parents lived in south Texas and I was living in Austin. The Highway 80 part was kind of fun because there wasn't much traffic back then and you could actually see some trees along the way.

I've read that Highway 72 from Kenedy to Three Rivers is packed now and because of all the traffic the shoulders on that highway have completely disintegrated so I can envision that area being a death trap because people drive way too fast for the conditions. It's been over a decade since I've been down there so I'm not sure if I would that route any more. If I was still going to college in Georgetown then I would be on the toll road around Austin instead. I imagine that Highway 123 through Stockdale and Seguin is even worse though.

[susanr516]

4. I quit driving that stretch of 72

a little less than 2 years ago. I only drove the section from I37 to Kenedy, but I've heard the road between 37 and George West is even worse. Not only is it dangerous, it's just ugly now. Drilling roads cut everywhere, pipeyards and equipment companies springing up, well-head flares burning off the NG everywhere, and any square foot of land left has been packed full of RVs because there's no housing available for the workers. I went to Austin last month, took 37 from Corpus to Mathis and 359 over to Skidmore. There's no oilfield development there yet, but the truck traffic was insane. I haven't driven 123 in years, so I can't tell you what it looks like now.

They're moving west into the Hill Country, have a BIL in oilfield equipment sales that's been working 70 hrs a week in the area around Devine for the last 18 months. I haven't been that way in a couple of years, but some of those roads are so narrow it's always been scary to drive them. I can't imagine what it's like now.

It's heartbreaking, really. The Eagle Ford is huge, runs from Laredo to Gonzales, anywhere from 25 to 75 miles wide, already has close to 4000 working wells and over 5000 more in the drilling process. There is really no way I can drive north without traveling through it. The days of there being a whole lot of nothing between San Antonio and Corpus Christi are gone.