Did texting while driving kill this Iowa teen?

Evidence at the crash site shows texting killed this Iowa teen

A 17-year-old from Iowa has died from a single-vehicle accident caused by her being distracted with texting at the wheel. She was running an errand when the accident occurred.  She was from Mechanicsville, Iowa.  Texting while driving is not much different than driving while under the influence of alcohol. The driver was a very pretty young lady. You can see her photograph at Teen was likely sending text message before fatal crash. The accident happened on Yankee Avenue. The car was heading southbound when she lost control, entered the west ditch, overcorrected and rolled. I've written extensively about this subject and wonder who the other person was who was being texted?

"After eliminating other possible causes for the crash, such as weather or vehicle problems, investigators determined Jennifer Flockhart was distracted, Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jose Varela said.

Officials found a cell phone near Flockhart with an unfinished text message. The time on the message coincided with the time of the accident, Varela said."

The Iowa State Patrol report has this narrative: UNIT 1 TRAVELING SOUTHBOUND ON YANKEE AVE WHEN VEHICLE LOST CONTROL. UNIT 1 ENTERED THE WEST ROAD DITCH AND WAS OVERCORRECTED. UNIT 1 CAME BACK ONTO YANKEE AVE ROLLING TO FINAL REST ON ITS TOP FACING EAST.

The accident occurred on July 5, 2010 at 8:16 p.m. in Cedar County at 1806 Yankee Ave. The sole driver wasn't using a seat belt but her airbags did deploy. She was totally ejected from the inside passenger compartment.

In other news there is flooding in Shelby County, enough so that Governor Culver declared it to be eligible for disaster relief. If you're driving in or through Shelby County in Iowa you'd better know more about whether you will face detours. It seems the hard winter with its heavy snows and this spring and summer's heavy rains has made the county a disaster when it comes to bridges.  With deck's buckling and other water damage from flooding the Shelby County Engineer has had to close six bridges in the county.  The Register article points specifically to the creek between Panama and Portsmouth. See Weather damages six bridges in Shelby County by the AP and published by the Des Moines Register. For questions call Dan Ahart the County Engineer.  Shelby County is in western Iowa with major highways of US Highway 59, Iowa Highway 37, Iowa Highway 44, Iowa Highway 173 and Iowa Highway 191. The County is 591 square miles in area with only one square mile of water. There are many rivers, streams and waterways in Shelby County. Towns in Shelby County include Defiance, Earling, Elk Horn, Harlan, Irwin, Kirkman, Panama, Portsmouth, Shelby, Tennant and Westphalia.  It's a smaller county with only 13,173 people and 5,173 households and 3,703 families. (2000 Census) The county seat is Harlan. According to the Wikipedia Shelby County was named after Isaac Shelby the first Governor of Kentucky. Interstate 80 is to the south of it and directly south of Shelby. More information can be obtained from City-Data.com.

In other news a semi-truck fire in the westbound lanes of Interstate Highways 80 and 35 near Second Avenue (that's on the north side of Des Moines) shut down access. The Register article didn't say what caused the fire or if anyone was injured.

In news out of Fort Dodge, Iowa a 13-year-old boy was fishing when his leg got caught under a concrete slab and pinning him in 3 feet of water. He stepped on the slab when it shifted pinning his leg. See Iowa boy freed after being trapped under slab in river. It was the Des Moines River that runs through Fort Dodge; the youngster was Joseph Hill from rural Webster County.

From West Liberty, Iowa we have a construction worker being killed by a dump truck this past Monday. The worker, Gamaliel Rodriguez, 31 was working on I-80 east of Dodge Street and Iowa Highway 1 interchange when a subcontractor's employee driving a dump truck. The employer for Rodgirquez is Streb Construction; there is no mention of the subcontractor's name.  See Construction worker from West Liberty killed by dump truck. In cases such as this one the dependents of worker killed are entitled to workers' compensation benefits and the accident will more than likely lead to a lawsuit against the subcontractor, it's employee driver and the General Contractor (GC) for failing to provide proper site management. It's not clear whether the truck was backing up at the time of the accident. IOSH and OSHA will have investigated.  It's not a surprise that the Iowa State Patrol hasn't yet published an investigative report. This one will take some time to prepare.

On I-380 again in Johnson County but on the 3rd of July a single vehicle rollover accident took the life of Candy Martin a 40-year-old driver. She was heading northbound on I-380 at milepost 2 when for unexplained reasons her car left the road entering the east ditch and collided with a concrete support at the "Forever Green" overpass. Her car then burst into flames, came back onto I-380 and burned up. The time was 8:30 p.m. on clear day with a clean road. I wonder if this has anything to do with cell phone usage. Certainly someone at that funeral knows.

Iowa Trooper Meggers describes it in his narrative as follows: VEHICLE #1 WAS TRAVELING NORTHBOUND ON INTERSTATE 380 AT THE TWO MILE MARKER. VEHICLE #1 LEFT THE ROADWAY FOR UNKNOWN REASONS AND ENTERED THE EAST DITCH. VEHICLE #1 COLLIDED WITH A CONCRETE BRIDGE SUPPORT AT THE FOREVER GREEN OVERPASS AND BURST INTO FLAMES. VEHICLE #1 CAME TO REST AND BURNED IN THE RIGHT NORTHBOUND LANE OF I-380.

There have been quite a few house fires lately. I passed one just off the I-35/I-80 in Urbandale (A surprising place!) at Plumwood caused by a propane tank for a grill. The exact location is Plumwood Terrace Condominiums, 4821 NW 86th Street, Urbandale, Iowa. Another in Des Moines at the Temple for Performing Arts was caused by lint accumulation in a clothes dryer. There was no mention of the age, make or model of the dryer but they did tell us the dryer was being used for heavy towel drying.  Another fire in Des Moines started when no one was home and has yet to be explained.  That one is on 34th Street and started around 5:42 a.m. See Propane blast is suspected in fire at Urbandale condos

That's enough for today. It's time for coffee and getting ready for a busy work day at the firm. But before I sign off here is a graphic video from Great Britain television about texting while driving. I'll warn you ahead of time it's pretty graphic but it does get the point across so if it saves your teen's life it's worth upsetting their stomach. So make them watch it.