Pedestrian Fatally Struck By Truck In Austin Identified

AUSTIN, TX - Police have identified a woman who recently died while attempting to cross a street in Austin, according to the Austin Police Department. Police said Ana Argueta, 62, lost her life on Dec. 19 when she was hit by a truck while trying to cross over five lanes of traffic.

A preliminary investigation showed that a 2013 dark blue, Dodge Ram truck was traveling westbound in the 7600 block of SH 71 in the outside lane, police said. Argueta attempted to cross the roadway from the south curb line to the north curb line prior to being struck.

After the accident, the driver of the vehicle remained on scene and is cooperating with the investigation, police said. The particular area where the accident occurred is heavily congested with traffic and not well lit, police added.

"It is not believed that driver impairment, speed, or weather/road conditions were factors in this incident," police said in a news release. "It is, however, believed that poor lighting conditions in the dark, early-morning hours contributed to the collision."

Life-saving measures were attempted on Argueta by the Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS, but she succumbed to her injuries and died on scene at 7:22 a.m.

Anyone with information regarding this case should call APD’s Vehicular Homicide Unit at (512) 974-4278. You can also submit tips by downloading Austin PD’s free mobile app on iPhone and Android. This is Austin’s 84th fatal traffic crash of 2019, resulting in 86 fatalities this year. At this time in 2018, there were 71 fatal traffic crashes and 72 traffic fatalities.