Eagle Ford Shale: The Good, Bad, and Ugly – Traffic Accidents Increase Significantly
By; Jose G Landa
The tapestry of our lives is like the patchwork on the road to our economic salvation. As the oil and gas exploration boom in the Eagle Ford Shale region reaches its peak, we must slowly realize that all that shines is not gold, but rather a lackluster transparency that occurs with an economy boom. We are witnessing the speculative realities of the oil and gas industry as it intertwines with an economic boom.
There are some things that are clear, big oil and gas companies are making barrels of money from the exploration of the Eagle Ford Shale in our region, jobs are being created, there is all types of spending being made in our local stores, hotels are being rented, and more money is being spent in the local economy. It has been said that the oil and gas industry is a great impact to our region. Good right? Well, it depends on how you view things. It’s a question of whether the glass is half full or empty – in this case the barrel. To deny that it will not have an impact would be absurd but along with its great economic impact there is great responsibility to ensure the region survives economically and infrastructurally once the oil and gas boom has come and gone.
A growing problem which has risen in the region’s landscape is the heavy traffic flowing on the state highways and roads that connect the small communities that are part of the Eagle Ford Shale. From an influx of 18 wheeler trucks and heavy machinery to a growing population of nomadic residents to our region bringing with it an impact, heavy in positive and negative results that some say could offset each other once the honeymoon is over. The realities of the impact of these problems are slowly spilling to our infrastructures and highways.
We are facing immediate damages and effects to the roads which are being torn apart, creating dangerous drop-offs and narrow stretches that lead to fatal accidents .The reality is that no amount of money can save us from the sobering reality that is invading the South Texas region and has now become a lucrative haven to the oil and gas industry. The impact on safety issues and growth of fatalities on our highways has increased like never before seen until the onset of the Eagle Ford Shale exploration in 2008 when the first oil well was drilled and put into production. Bringing with it many challenges coinciding with the sudden growth population, traffic, and unpreparedness, from roadways not equipped to handle the heavy traffic to the fast paced deterioration of county roads and our state highways. It is a bitter pill to swallow as the number of fatalities in highway accidents keep increasing significantly coinciding with the growth of the region due to the expansion of the Eagle Ford Shale play.
The ill- effects of growth and prosperity have risen to great heights such as in Karnes County, the epicenter of the oil and gas exploration, that there has been 12 deaths involving motor vehicle accidents all within the first 5 months of 2012, a far cry from one fatality reported to the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2008. Karnes County went from five commercial wrecks in 2008 to 77 in 2011, a 1,440% increase. La Salle County has experienced a 418% increase in traffic accidents involving commercial vehicles; McMullen County’s commercial vehicle accidents have shot up a whopping 1050% experiencing 48 commercial vehicles wrecks in 2011 compared to four accidents in 2008; Frio County has reported six highway fatalities in 2011within a span of 12 months where they had only one death in 2010. According to public accident data, three men, including two oil field workers, lost their lives in a head- on collision in Frio County when a pick-up driver hit a pothole and lost control of the vehicle veering off its respective lane and colliding head-on with an oncoming vehicle in the opposite lane of travel.
Atascosa County has seen tragedy slowly spill throughout its roadways as well. Most recently two oil field workers lost their lives in a single- vehicle rollover as the driver of a pickup truck veered off Interstate 37 colliding into the median which caused the vehicle to violently overturn killing two passengers instantly while the driver of the vehicle was airlifted to a South Texas Regional Medical Hospital in critical condition.
Maverick County is not immune to the crash and boom impact of the downside of the Eagle Ford Shale play as it has experienced at least seven highway accident deaths in the past 16 months in its highways. This summer a local Eagle Pass Independent School District administrator died in an accident in Dimmit County near Catarina, Texas on state highway 83.
Travel down to the regions of the Eagle Ford Shale play and you will bear witness to the congestion and unpreparedness that the two lane county and state highways are being exposed to on a daily basis. It has gotten out of control so much that the Texas Department of Public Safety is now out in force trying to alleviate the hazards of driving conditions and accidents that have sky-rocketed since 2008. Trooper Richard Standifer, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, attributed the increased numbers in highway deaths in the State of Texas to the influx of workers in the Texas’ oil and gas industry, including the Eagle Ford Shale Region.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the Eagle Ford Shale region in Texas has seen an increase in commercial vehicle fatal accidents from six fatalities in 2008 to 24 in 2011. The exact statistic of highway deaths involving commercial vehicles is unclear because fatalities are only reported if they die at the site of the accident, not if the victim passes away at a hospital later. The deplorable state of road conditions is a great cause of concern to Texans in April of this year a pothole was the main cause of an accident that killed two undocumented immigrants as their truck they were traveling in hit a pothole causing the truck to bounce so violently along Texas Highway 792 that it ejected them from the truck bed and killing them.
A growing concern with authorities is driver fatigue as a major contributing factor in accidents with commercial vehicles(18 wheelers) as many Eagle Ford Shale drivers are working long hour shifts close to16 hour a day for 5 to 6 days straight and mostly going on 4 to 5 hours of sleep leading to sleep deprivation, anxiety, fatigue, from overworking and poor sleep habits compounded with higher tendencies to heat exhaustion from being out in the field for long periods of time under the hot Texas sun, causing anxiety and exhaustion, driver unawareness, inattention, lack of concentration, and bouts with road rage. Add tired drivers, deterioration of the roads, and the unpreparedness of the other drivers driving alongside the big rigs on roads, which are not meant to handle such conditions as they are being torn apart from the weight of 80,000 plus pound trucks, and we are left with an extreme problem that will take years to begin to comprehend and address yet alone fix. The reality is no amount of repair work on these troubled state and county roads can cure what ails us because the trucks will keep damaging the roads faster than the Texas Department of Transportation can begin to repair them. The heavy traffic in and around 11 counties in the Eagle Ford Shale play has led to an increase of doubling of fatal accidents involving commercial vehicles from 2008 to 2011 while a total of vehicle accidents of all kinds have gone up 15 percent during the same amount of time.
The spike in highway accidents in the Eagle Ford Shale region may have many contributing factors from unsafe roads, driver error, congestion of unprepared roadways, fatigue from oil field workers falling asleep behind the wheel, drivers worn out from long hours of work, drunkdriving, people in a hurry and not paying attention, the roads being too small to accommodate commercial trucks carrying heavy equipment, drilling rigs and large shipments of water and materials. The increase in potholes and other types of road damage seem to coincide directly with an increase in accidents and deaths in the Eagle Ford Shale area. Compound all that and it becomes a struggle in understanding what is causing an increase in accidents from a greater volume of vehicles trafficking Texas roads, leading to a greater risk of accidents. Add in the situation being set by the method an oil field operation is worked and one can easily see a volatile situation arise affecting everyone in and around the Eagle Ford Shale Region as studies clearly point out that combinations of fatigue, pressure to transport more oil, incorrect use of highways not intended for heavy traffic flow, and the unpreparedness of communities to handle the influx of the growing pains that come with the oil and gas industry and it all combines into making the state highways and traveling in and around the Eagle Ford Shale region one of the deadliest in the country.
Publisher’s Note: This is one of a series of articles that will be published in the series titled: Eagle Ford Shale: The Good, Bad, and Ugly. Previously had published an article on the positive economic effects of the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas.
