Unsecured Items Falling Into Traffic Can Lead to Serious Injury or Death

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) has proclaimed June 6, "Secure Your Load Day" to remind Texans that securing their load while traveling is a matter of protecting themselves and other motorists from potential injury or death.

A media event will take place at the Texas Travel Information Center off I-30 at 10AM, today June 6. Examples of items recently lost from vehicles that landed on Texas roadways will be on display. It’s the law in Texas to secure any load on a vehicle or trailer.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, at 55 miles per hour, an object weighing just 20 pounds that falls from a vehicle strikes with an impact of half a ton. There are 51,000 incidents involving unsecured loads in the United States each year, killing 440 people and injuring 10,000 people (Government Accountability Office Study). In Texas during 2017, there were 1241 total crashes reported caused by a load not being secured. Of those crashes, 200 caused injuries and five resulted in deaths (TXDOT-2017).

Attending the event will be:

• Sgt. Sara Warren, TxDPS Public Information Officer
• Mike Anderson, TxDOT Atlanta District Engineer
• Irene Webster, TxDOT Traffic Safety Specialist
• Marcus Sandifer, TxDOT Public Information Officer
• Representatives from the Bowie County Sherriff’s Office and Texarkana Texas
• Police Department

And others.

TxDOT employees will present a demonstration on how to properly secure items in a pickup.  There will also be actual debris items that have fallen out of vehicles and recovered from area highways.