13-year-old drove truck that killed 9 in Texas crash
Investigations around the incident that occurred in West Texas revealed that a 13-year-old was driving the pickup truck that killed 6 members of a golf team and their coach.
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6 members of a college golf team and their coach were among those killed
After a collision last week killed 9, including 6 members of a college golf team and their coach, the inquiry has discovered that a 13-year-old was driving the truck. The driver, still unidentified, died along with another traveler in the truck.
Bruce Landsberg, the National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman, revealed Thursday that the truck's left front tire, a spare, was blown out before the impact.
Landsberg noted that this was "clearly a high-speed collision."
Many in the van that collided with the pickup truck were not wearing seatbelts, and at least one passenger was ejected from the vehicle on impact.
Gib Stevens, who runs area trucking operations for a servicing company expressed "that was dumb," for a 13-year-old to be operating a vehicle on a busy roadway.
Safety Sgt. Victor Taylor said a 13-year-old driving would be against the law, seeing as in Texas the law dictates a teen must be at least 15 to receive a preliminary license with a licensed adult in the operated vehicle.
When the automobiles crashed Tuesday night, the students from the University of the Southwest were returning from a golf event.
According to NTSB Spokesperson Eric Weiss, the golf team members were in a 2017 Ford Transit van carrying a box trailer when they collided with the truck, and both vehicles exploded into flames.
He stated that the cars collided on a two-lane asphalt roadway with a speed restriction of 75 mph (120 kph), though authorities have yet to ascertain how fast each vehicle was driving.
University of the Southwest Provost Ryan Tipton said the two critically students who were taken by helicopter to the University Medical Center in Lubbock are now "stable and recovering."
