TYLER, Texas — EDITORS NOTE: CBS19 has decided to edit out the moments of impact in the surveillance video out of respect to the families.
New surveillance video shows the moments before two vehicles struck each other head-on. The crash happened Monday morning on State Highway 110 at the intersection of Meador Cemetery Road, also known as County Road 2121, in Smith County.
One person died and two others were injured in the crash that ultimately involved three vehicles. Residents and local businesses in the area say a traffic light is needed at that intersection.
"It’s scary to think that I’m driving on that road," Craig Rascow said.
He added it's an area where there's a lot of traffic and hard to make a southbound turn onto Highway 110 from CR 2121.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the white truck was trying to turn southbound on SH 110 from CR 2121 and the darker-colored truck was going northbound in the middle lane of SH 110. The white truck struck the darker-colored truck, which was then pushed across the inside lane into the path of a third vehicle striking each other head-on. The driver of the second vehicle was pronounced dead following the wreck.
According to TxDOT, factors like “unsafe speed", “failure to drive in a single lane” and “alcohol-related DUI” contributed to 184 fatal crashes and 209 deaths within the Tyler district, which spans Anderson, Cherokee, Gregg, Henderson, Rusk, Smith, Van Zandt and Wood counties.
"Seeing that number is alarming," TxDOT spokesperson Jeff Williford said.
He added speed is often a contributing factor in these fatal crashes followed by drunk driving and pedestrian crashes.
"They (drivers) drive too fast. It starts at five in the morning and occasionally you hear a crash," Rascow said.
DPS is still investigating the circumstances surrounding Monday's crash and are determining whether speed or distracted driving was a factor.
"It (Monday morning's crash) was actually the second (one) in the past two weeks," Rascow said.
TxDOT is only responsible for traffic signals within city limits if the population is less than 50,000.
"We do traffic studies, mobility studies with engineers and they’ll study certain areas," Williford said.
The city of Tyler told CBS19 they don’t plan on adding a traffic signal at this intersection of Highway 110 and CR 2121, but say they’re adding one at the intersection of Grande Blvd. and Old Noonday Rd. because of history of crashes at that intersection.
"I think they need some stop lights out there (at the Highway 110 and CR 2121 intersection)," Rascow said.
For now, all Rascow can do is plead drivers to be careful and slow down.