1994 — July 3, Tractor-trailer rear-ends family van, I-20, Weatherford, TX — 14
— 14 AP. “Carnage on Texas highways…31 dead…” Hutchinson News, KS. 7-4-1994, 13.
— 14 AP. “July 3…Tenth Anniversary…46 Died.” Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, TX, 7-3-2004.
— 14 Kerrville Daily Times, TX. “Accidents take toll on Texas highways.” 7-5-1994, p. 1.
— 14 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. FARS 1975-2010 Fatality Analysis.
— 14 New York Times. “Crashes Kill 37 in Texas in Single Day.” 7-4-1994.
Narrative Information
July 4, AP: “Weatherford, Texas (AP) – In one of the bloodiest days ever on Texas highways, 31 people died in three separate crashes Sunday, including 14 people killed when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a family’s van…..
“In the Weatherford crash, the 18-wheeler hit the van with such force that its front bumper reached the van’s front seat, said Weatherford Fire Chief George Teague. The impact launched the wreckage 600 feet down Interstate 20, throwing a passenger from the van and leaving a trail of clothing and twisted metal. The ejected van passenger also died. At least five were injured, including the trucker, the van driver, and a 22-year-old woman and two children.
“The family was on its way from Los Angeles to Mississippi for a family gathering.
“The driver, Claudia Funches of Los Angeles, told police she’d pulled to the side of the highway
when the 1977 Dodge van with California plates stalled. She got it started, pulled back into the
travel lane and was hit from behind about 9:30 a.m.
“”The impact was so great that the van was knocked 600 feet from the point where it was struck and then exploded into flames,” Cox said [spokesman, State Dept. of Public Safety].
“Traffic was diverted as firefighters, state troopers and others worked to clear the scene, about 30 miles west of Fort Worth.
“The badly burned bodies of 13 people, mostly children, were believed still inside the van Sunday afternoon, Cox said. The van was to be towed to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, Cox said.
“Funches, 47, was in critical condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Two children and a 22-year-old woman were taken to other hospitals. One child was in good condition, while the other’s condition was unknown. The 22-year-old was in stable condition. The truck driver was in good condition….” (Associated Press. “Carnage on Texas highways leaves 31 dead in three separate accidents.” Hutchinson News, KS. 7-4-1994, 13.)
July 4, NYT: “….Weatherford, a city of 15,000 people about 55 miles west of Dallas…” (New York Times. “Crashes Kill 37 in Texas in Single Day.” 7-4-1994.)
July 3, 2004, AP: “Dallas (AP) — Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike Cox said… more than 60 [63] people… died on Texas highways over the July Fourth weekend….
“….carelessness appears to have played a major role in all three of the big Sunday crashes, authorities said. The elements were tragically similar. Vehicles crowded with families were making hours-long trips without using seat belts….
“In the Weatherford accident, a California woman driving with a suspended license pulled a van from a shoulder of the highway onto the interstate, apparently not seeing an oncoming 18-wheeler, Cox said….” (Kerrville Daily Times, TX. “Accidents take toll on Texas highways.” 7-5-1994, 1.)
“Dallas (AP) — The moment is seared in Mike Scrivner’s mind. The screams of children trapped in their burning van. The helpless feeling of a firefighter without water or a fire truck. The retired Fort Worth fireman was off duty on July 3, 1994, when he drove by the wreckage of a van that had burst into flames after it was hit by a tractor-trailer. Scrivner stopped, broke the van’s windshield and pulled out the driver, her 22-year-old daughter and two 4-year-old boys. But he couldn’t save the other two adults and 12 children under the age of 13. That crash on Interstate 20 near Weatherford was one of several that happened on the deadliest day for motorists in Texas history. In all, 46 people died that day. “It was a bunch of kids, and I wasn’t equipped to help them,” Scrivner said in Friday’s online edition of The Dallas Morning News. “I didn’t have my fire crew, no water and no fire truck. The rest of them were trapped in there. You could hear those kids hollering and screaming.”
“Three separate crashes in less than six hours on that day took the lives of 31 people. Before that, the deadliest traffic day was Christmas Eve 1975 when 42 people died….
“Claudia Funches, 47, was driving her family from California to her hometown of Vicksburg, Miss., for a family reunion, even though her license had been revoked for driving violations a decade earlier. After the van’s shock absorbers gave out under the weight of 18 people and their luggage, Funches tried to drive along the shoulder to the next exit. When speed bumps made that difficult, she moved back onto the highway and was hit by the tractor-trailer. The impact pushed the van 600 feet and ruptured its fuel tank, sparking the blaze.” (AP. “July 3 Marks Tenth Anniversary of Texas’ Deadliest Traffic Day…” Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, TX, 7-3-2004.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Carnage on Texas highways leaves 31 dead in three separate accidents.” Hutchinson News, KS. 7-4-1994, 13. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/hutchinson-news/1994-07-04/page-13/
Associated Press. “July 3 Marks Tenth Anniversary of Texas’ Deadliest Traffic Day, 46 Died.” Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, TX. 7-3-2004. Accessed at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1164835/posts
Kerrville Daily Times, TX. “Accidents take toll on Texas highways.” 7-5-1994, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/kerrville-daily-times/1994-07-05/page-1/
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Partial Data Dump of Crashes Involving 10 or More Fatalities, by Year, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1975-2009 Final and 2010 ARF. Washington, DC: NHTSA, pdf file provided to Wayne Blanchard, 1-26-2012.
New York Times. “Crashes Kill 37 in Texas in Single Day.” 7-4-1994. Accessed 1-30-2012 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/04/us/crashes-kill-37-in-texas-in-single-day.html