SANDIA, Texas — A horrifying crash claimed the life of a Corpus Christi man just after 11 a.m. Saturday on State Highway 534 near Sandia, a stretch of road that has become known for serious accidents.
Joseph Cibrian lost control of his pickup, overcorrected and crashed through a fence. The truck caught fire.
Chad Davis showed 3NEWS the spot on his property where he found the burning truck Saturday morning. He said the flames were so intense he didn't realize that the 62-year-old was on the ground just outside of the truck.
"There's a spot on that curve where they come around the corner -- and the speed limit is too high to begin with -- but when they come across and the land off to the side of that curve, they run off instead of steering it back on correctly, they oversteer," Davis said.
He says there have been many accidents here.
"And in the oversteering, we've had two cars within the last year within ten yards of each other in the same spot it happened to," Davis said. "And we've also had ones that have come down, like this car going right here, and they miss that curve because the speed limit is pretty high for these curvy roads. And we've had, the bridges aren't that great and bouncy spots and the roads aren't that good and they crash right off the edge of that bridge over there."
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirms this stretch of road has seen numerous crashes.
"Over the last four years there have been 20 crashes along that road to include four right around the same area where this crash occurred," Sgt. Rob Mallory said.
Investigators believe a momentary distraction likely led to the deadly crash.
On the road, you can see skid marks where Cibrian's truck crossed the highway before slamming into the barbed wire fence.
Davis said his family has petitioned the state to lower the speed limit.
"It's not just, 'oh I want the speed limits gone down,' I want them to fix that thing over there," he said. "I mean the reality is nobody wants this to happen if there's a way you keep this from happening that's what anybody would want, I would think with common sense, so if there's something we could do to fix it we ought to fix that."
DPS continues investigate Saturday's crash and warns drivers to be aware and extra careful on some of these curvy country roads.