by VERONICA GORDON
A recent accident on FM 967 that claimed the life of a Creekside Villas Apartment resident is bringing up concerns about the safety of that road.
The accident happened when Cheryl Ann Boblick slowed to turn into the driveway of Creekside Villas Apartments as a delivery truck was driving in the same lane, according to Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd.
Kidd said the truck started to skid and crashed into the driver’s side of Boblick’s Ford Escape pushing it into a ditch.
“He tried to avoid the wreck by turning left,” Kidd said. “But he ended up crashing into the vehicle.”
The accident report shows that Boblick and her mother Eileen Winifred Stier were taken to Brackenridge Medical Center in Austin, where Stier died three days later.
Stier died from blunt force injuries sustained in the accident, according to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office.
The driver of the truck, Ruben Valenzuela Uresti, was not injured. Uresti was cited for failure to control his speed.
Kidd said he’s received some complaints about the speed limit on the road.
“Since it is a state road TxDOT determines the speed limits there,” Kidd said. “We have contacted TxDOT on two separate occasions and passed on (residents’) concerns.”
Kidd said TxDOT did a traffic study last year and determined that the speed limits would not be changed.
“I am only aware of one other accident in that location since we have been in operation,” Kidd said. “I will make them aware of this accident and the additional concerns expressed from citizens following this incident.”
There have been 31 crashes on FM 967 between FM 1626 and Bluff Street, according to TxDOT accident statistics from 2007 to 2012.
Three of those wrecks included incapacitating injuries. Five accidents were non-incapacitating injuries and five were possible injury crashes. The other 18 were non-injury crashes. The report did not show any fatal accidents in that period. But that doesn’t include Stier’s accident.
Stier’s neighbor Mary Rice moved into Creekside Villas when it opened in 2011.
“I was one of the first residents here,” she said.
Since then, she’s been fearful every time she gets in her car.
“I’m scared to pull out and make a left turn,” she said. “When you try to make a turn out of the complex, cars are coming so fast and they can’t see you because of the hill.”
Rice said she will miss Stier being at the complex.
“She was very active in church and she was involved in clubs at the complex,” she said. “It’s not going to seem right around here without her.”
