At about 11:15 pm East Montgomery County Fire Department responded to a major accident on I-69 southbound over FM 2090 in Splendora. With one fire truck on the scene, another East Montgomery County Fire Truck was parked across lanes as a ‘BLOCKER” to protect the victims and first responders from any other vehicles traveling down the highway. The wreck was just clearing and the crew had just gotten back into the truck when a motorist who claims to have fallen asleep drove into the scene and sideswiped the right side of the firetruck, The vehicle with heavy damage continued to the shoulder some 100 yards away. Luckily there were no injuries. However, East Montgomery County will be down a fire truck until repairs can be made. Immediately after the crash, the fire trucks which first arrived on the scene of the crash moved back several hundred yards to block traffic for the fire truck crash. Even with that one motorist went around the fire truck and back into a lane that a Patton Village patrol unit was in. That vehicle almost struck that unit. Then as the wrecker was loading another motorist passed one of the Splendora Patrol units at such speed that the SUV the officer was driving rocked. That driver was chased down and cited for failure to move over and slow down. Years ago before the wrecker rotation took effect in Montgomery Couty, multiple wreckers would have been on the scene blocking traffic. However, now since wreckers have to be dispatched it is up to the fire departments to block traffic, first sometimes for close to an hour as they wait for law enforcement and then until the scene is clear. The reason for this is almost 90% of motorists refuse to obey the State Law on Slow Down and Move Over. Many times it is easier to completely close a roadway for the safety of the first responders working the scene. Several weeks ago in the Central Texas Community of West, Texas, a West fireman who survived the massive explosion there 10 years prior was killed when an 18-wheeler ran into the crash scene they were working. In Carrolton, Texas the fire department spent over a million dollars on a blocking truck/trailer that weighs 80,000 pounds. Three thousand gallons of water make up some of the weight. They use it to block lanes for the safety of first responders. So far the unit has been struck by two different vehicles, one of those an impaired driver. It also saved countless First Responders’ lives who were working the crash scene behind it.
TEXAS MOVE OVER SLOW DOWN LAW
It requires drivers in Texas to move over a lane, if possible when coming up on an emergency vehicle parked with its lights on. If that’s not possible, drivers must slow down to at least 20 miles an hour below the speed limit. The same goes when drivers see TxDOT crews, construction vehicles, and utility workers
