Comment The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a golf team’s van in March, killing nine people in Texas, was a 38-year-old man, not his 13-year-old son, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday, correcting information the agency released shortly after the fiery head-on crash. DNA results from the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed the driver was the father, according to the NTSB, which said its March 17 statement that the son was behind the wheel was “based on information available at the time.” The NTSB also said testing found methamphetamine in the father’s blood, although investigators said it was too early to know whether that contributed to the crash. The coach of the University of the Southwest’s golf team and six students from the New Mexico school were killed, as were the father and son in the pickup. Two other students were seriously injured in the Andrews County crash. Federal investigators said the man driving the 2007 Dodge 2500 was heading southbound when the pickup crossed into the northbound lane of Highway FM 1788, which had a speed limit of 75 mph. From March: 13-year-old was driving in Texas collision that killed 9, NTSB says At its March briefing, the NTSB said the pickup’s left front tire, a spare, blew out, pulling the truck across the centerline of the highway. But in a preliminary report released Thursday, the agency said, “to date, the investigation has not found evidence of a sudden or rapid loss of tire air pressure or any other indicators of catastrophic failure of the pickup truck’s front left tire.” Robert Molloy, director of the NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety, said Thursday that “out of concern of the family,” he would not detail early evidence gathered by crash investigators and information that led the agency to incorrectly describe who was driving. Molloy said the catastrophic damage from the crash and resulting fire “made understanding some of the details of the crash very difficult.” The Texas Department of Public Safety, which is a party to the investigation, did not immediately answer questions on the circumstances. Regarding the status of the left front tire, Molloy said although preliminary evidence pointed toward a catastrophic failure, a subsequent teardown and examination of the wheel and its components by NTSB researchers, as well as other roadway evidence, provided no evidence of such a failure. The NTSB, known for its caution and the rigor of its investigations into complex airline, marine and roadside crashes, said the preliminary information released Thursday is “subject to change, and may contain errors,” which would be corrected after the investigation is complete and a final report released.
