As Joe Conger reports for KENS 5 News in San Antonio, “It’s not if you’re going to have an accident. It is when you’re going to have an accident,” said the Karnes County sheriff.
The sheriff is talking about the trucking traffic from the Eagle Ford Shale oil boom, which caused the death of a young Texas man who was killed when an 18-wheeler hit his vehicle not far from his home.
In fact, seven people have lost their lives in traffic accidents in Karnes County alone this year, and as Conger reports, the police have dramatically increased the percentage of traffic tickets they’re handing out: it’s up a staggering 700 percent.
The father of the young man who recently lost his life said, “We weren’t ready for all the activity, as a community, as a county. That’s been tough.”
It seems like everyone has some “catching up” to do when it comes to the roads. The Texas Department of Transportation, for instance, is moving (slowly, it seems) toward putting in new traffic lights, and the sheriff in Karnes County has requested funds to double the number of police cruisers out on the roads.
Source: Oil boom’s gloom: Rough roads, traffic encircle Eagle Ford Shale