Galveston County Trucking Accident Leaves Texas Mother and Son Dead

This morning, a Texas mother and her infant son died after colliding with a semi-truck head-on near Angleton, Texas.  Jennifer Lynch, 26, and her 3-month-old son, Aiden Hilburn, died at the scene of the accident, according to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.  Both bodies are being autopsied at the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.

While driving on this foggy Wednesday morning, Lynch veered into another lane and hit the driver's side of a semi-truck moving south on the Oyster Creek bridge.  While the mother and son were killed by the impact, the semi-truck's driver, Eric Rodgers, 37, of Houston, Texas, was taken to Angleton Danbury Medical Center for his back pain.  The disparity in injuries is evidence of the power of the huge semi-trucks we drivers share the road with.

The Texas Highway Department crews cleaned up over 150 gallons of diesel fuel that had spilled out of the semi-truck onto the bridge after Lynch's car opened up one of the truck's fuel tanks in the accident.

Lynch was not wearing her seat belt at the time of the collision.  Time and again, our Texas Trucking Accident Lawyers see cases where deaths could have been prevented by proper use of a seatbelt.  Additionally, Texas Occupant Restraint Law requires drivers and now ALL passengers to use a seatbelt.

The infant boy's car seat was not pulled tightly enough to be secured in the car.  Again, this violates Texas Occupant Restraint Law.  The greatest tragedies are when infants and other children rely on their parents for their safety and well-being and those parents or other guardian drivers fail to exercise appropriate caution when installing and/or using a child safety device like a car seat.  There are organizations out there dedicated to assisting consumers in the proper installation and use of child safety restraints.  Groups like SeatCheck, NHTSA, or your local Department of Public Safety can provide more information.

The cause of the accident is still is under investigation.

The Texas truck accident lawyers at Schechter McElwee Shaffer & Harris represent injured victims of tanker, 18 wheeler, tractor trailer and semi truck accidents around the state of Texas.  For more information about our free legal consultations, please email us at info@smslegal.com or call (800) 282-2122.