Recent Car Accident Fatality Highlights Continued Dangers On Roads, Notes Waxahachie Personal Injury Lawyer

Waxahachie, TX (Law Firm Newswire) April 29, 2013 – A traffic accident led to the arrest of a Texas woman.

On March 1, a two-vehicle crash eventually proved fatal. A 2010 Ford Fusion driven by a 74-year-old woman, Millie Powell of Port Arthur, Texas, rear-ended another vehicle. The vehicle she hit had been lawfully stopped while waiting to make a turn into a private driveway. The collision caused minor damage. The other driver was uninjured; Powell was sent to a local hospital with minor injuries. But Powell’s passenger, 92-year-old Ruby Jones, also of Port Arthur, experienced moderate injuries. 


After the accident, Powell was charged with careless operation of an automobile, driving with an expired driver’s license, DWI, and first-degree vehicular negligent injury. Toxicology reports of samples obtained from Powell are pending, and the crash is still under investigation. Two days after the accident, Jones died from her injuries. Powell was arrested for vehicular homicide, a charge which replaced her previous charge of first-degree vehicular negligent injury. 


“Toxicology reports have yet to come back and it is unclear at this time if the accident was driver error due to inebriation or age, or some other unidentified factor,” commented Waxahachie personal injury attorney John Hale. “While driving while inebriated is at an all-time low, driving while distracted by a cell phone or by texting, and driving while medically impaired all continue to be safety issues on our nation’s roadways.”

While drunk driving continues to be a major health and safety issue for Texas drivers and nationwide, drunk driving and underage drinking has declined over the past two decades. Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities have declined 35 percent overall, and U.S. driving fatalities for individuals under the age of 21 has declined by 58 percent. In 2012, 41 states saw a decrease in the number of inebriated driving fatalities.

In the state of Texas, there were more than 1,250 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2010 (the most recently available statistics). Of those fatalities, more than 175 were due to an alcohol-impaired driver under the age of 21.

The gradual decline of reflexes and diminished vision can be an issue for older drivers. In Texas, drivers age 79 years and older are generally required to renew their driver’s license in person. Drivers who are older than 85 can renew their license for a two-year period.

John Hale is a Waxahachie personal injury lawyer and Ellis County personal injury lawyer helping injury victims near Dallas, Texas. Learn more at The Hale Law Firm

The Hale Law Firm
100 Executive Court, Suite 3
Waxahachie, TX 75165
Call: 888.425.3911

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