FORT WORTH, TX (02/18/2016) — A fatal motorcycle accident involving a tractor-trailer claimed the life of Zachary Downs on Thursday night.
Police identified 29-year-old Zachary Downs as the victim of a fatal 18-wheeler-vs-motorcycle accident that occurred in the 5800 block of North Main Street in Fort Worth, Texas.
Authorities reported that at around 7:00 p.m., an 18-wheeler pulled out of a rail yard and struck Downs, who was riding his motorcycle on Main Street.
According to Fort Worth police spokesman Sgt. Steve Enright, Downs was caught under a wheel of the tractor-trailer, thrown off his bike, and possibly struck by another passing vehicle.
Downs unfortunately lost his life at the scene.
Commentary
We would like to briefly discuss driver responsibility for accidents of this nature. A motorcycle is a smaller vehicle that is oftentimes difficult to detect. For this reason, drivers of larger vehicles should be extra vigilant for motorcyclists—especially operators of 18-wheelers, who have the largest vehicles on the road.
What could the responsible driver have done differently? As there doesn’t seem to be a line-of-sight issue in this area (see Google StreetView), perhaps the truck driver should have taken extra caution since they did not possess right-of-way. That precautionary measure may have prevented this tragic crash from occurring. Unfortunately we won’t know the full facts of the truck accident until an investigation has been completed.
