19-year-old killed after 18-wheeler crashes into his car on I-35

by: Russell Falcon

Posted: Oct 3, 2019 / 08:55 AM CDT / Updated: Oct 3, 2019 / 08:58 AM CDT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police announced several updates on Thursday on a fatal crash that happened around midnight on Monday on Interstate 35.

Austin Police Department says that the preliminary investigation shows that the Ford Mustang driven by a 19-year-old man was stopped in the center lane of the 7400 block of southbound I-35 at 11:58 pm. At this time, police say, a Peterbuilt Tractor Truck traveling southbound in the center lane hit the Mustang from behind.

The driver of the Mustang was pronounced dead at the scene.

The truck driver remained at the scene and cooperated with police. No charges are expected to be filed at this time.

This is Austin’s 63rd fatal crash of 2019, resulting in 65 fatalities this year. At this time in 2018, there were 52 fatal traffic crashes and 53 traffic fatalities.

In May, APD Chief Brian Manley addressed concerns over the increasing rate of traffic fatalities, saying he believes the numbers are due to Austin’s growing population. At a press conference, Manley said:

“There’s more traffic on the roadways but what we do is we dig down deep into those contributing factors and we look for things we can do differently or better to prevent them and we tend to find some of those same causes and factors.”

At that time, Manley listed several factors he says contribute to fatalities, including:

• People using their phones while driving

• Attempts to cross I-35

• Not using crosswalks

• Driving while intoxicated

It is not known if any of these contributed to Monday’s crash.

The investigation into the Monday crash is still going on and information may change.