UPDATE (March 5, 2024): Authorities identified the other occupant in Ratna Koneru’s vehicle as Ravi Gokaraju.
Carrollton, TX — February 10, 2024, Ratna Koneru was killed and two were injured after an alleged drunk driver accident at around 3:30 a.m. on Sam Rayburn.
Preliminary statements on the crash say that it happened along main lanes of the tollway just off the I-35E interchange where the freeway crosses the Elm Fork Trinity River.
According to officials, 47-year-old Ratna Koneru and a 48-year-old man were in a Honda Accord said to be going northeast along Sam Rayburn. Up ahead, authorities say that an Audi somehow got on the wrong side of the road and was driving against traffic. This resulted in Koneru’s vehicle and the wrong-way vehicle colliding.
Due to the collision, Koneru sustained injuries which proved to be fatal. Koneru’s passenger and the reported wrong-way driver both had apparently serious injuries. Authorities alleged that the driver of the Audi was under the influence of alcohol, however they have not released any confirmed test results at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
While I must emphasize this information is not confirmed, it sadly would not be at all surprising if it turned out alcohol caused this awful event. It’s by far the most common reason that wrong-way crashes happen—especially during these hours of the morning. But when folks start to discuss how we can prevent these wrong-way crashes, I rarely see them talk about going after the alcohol provider who likely over-served the wrong-way driver. Here’s why that’s an issue that deserves more attention.
Put simply, holding alcohol providers accountable for their contributions to a serious wreck gets them to clean up their act. I recall one case, for example, that happened not too long ago. It involved a drunk driver going into oncoming traffic and causing a serious wreck. The evidence in that particular case showed servers giving the guy drink after drink. Eventually, he could barely walk to and from the bathroom without falling over, let alone drive safely. Still, the bar illegally over-served him until he finally closed his substantial tab and predictably went on to cause a devastating crash.
Prior to our investigations, the family was confused why we wanted to look into where the driver was drinking—they’d never heard anything like that before. After they saw the evidence, they were shocked authorities weren’t already doing their own investigations. Once that establishment realized there were consequences for their actions, that establishment went to great lengths to make sure they never made that mistake again. But too often, authorities put all of their focus on the drunk drivers, and the alcohol providers get off scot-free to continue putting the community in danger.
TxDOT can make all of the improvements to signage or lighting that they want, and it might do some good. But eventually, some drunk driver coming from a local bar that has no regard for the law is inevitably going to miss all of those improvements and cause a serious crash anyway. At the end of the day, it’s just simple math. The fewer negligent alcohol providers in the community over-serving customers, the fewer drunk drivers we’ll have driving into oncoming traffic.
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