One man is dead following Monday’s crash in the 7500 block of Slide Road.
The Lubbock Police Department said 69-year-old Howard Wright was turning onto Slide Road in his Nissan Murano when he was hit by a southbound vehicle. That vehicle was a Dodge Charger driven by 19-year-old Xavier Montalvo.
Police said Wright was transported to University Medical Center where he was declared dead.
Meanwhile, Montalvo was transported to Covenant Medical Center with injuries described as “moderate”.
Eyewitnesses said they thought the crash was linked to racing. The southbound lanes of Slide, as well as the eastbound lanes in the 5200 block of 75th, were closed while crews worked the scene.
Major Crash Unit investigators with the police department responded to the accident shortly before 3 p.m.
Officers will continue to investigate the accident.
Between 2010 and 2018, more people died in traffic accidents in Texas than in any other state. Between November 7, 2000, and November 8, 2019, someone died in a crash every day.
Last November, Texas Transportation Commission member Laura Ryan said people had become numb to the fatalities but 99 percent of the deaths in the previous 19 years were preventable.
In May 2019, the Commission set an ambitious goal of ending road fatalities by 2050. In addition to the usual spending on safety measures, the agency allocated $600 million to a range of interventions including widening roads, improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists and upgrading guardrails.
This was expected to be done over a two-year period.
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