'It's just a big nightmare': Crosby family says widened road led to 2 drivers hitting their business

CROSBY, Texas (KTRK) -- Having a vehicle plow into your place of business once would be startling at first, but you can breathe easy if you have it insured.

But to get hit twice on the same day is deflating, as one Crosby gas station owner fumed to Eyewitness News on Wednesday.

Just two days prior, the Talbott family's station, which they've owned for more than 30 years, was the site of a fiery crash that happened at about 9 a.m. on Monday.

"When I got here that's what, I seen the (canopy) laying down. The pumps were laying down and on fire. Everything else was gone by the time I got here," owner Danny Talbott said.

Sure enough, photos captured that moment showed a full-service pump charred and on the ground. Almost immediately, the Talbotts got to work, trying to fix what someone else destroyed with their car.

"Thought I was going to be back in shape without this side (of pumps) working," Talbott said.

That was until another vehicle slammed into the business more than 12 hours later.

"Then I had another one come in at 9:30 that night come through the back wall and destroyed every piece of equipment and tool that I have in the garage," Talbott said, calling the whole situation a "big nightmare."

The cause of crashes and the need for better barriers

The Talbotts want the Texas Department of Transportation to step in and make the area safer in order to prevent more accidents like those from happening.

They explained the issues arose only after the state widened the road near the station on Main Street several years ago.

"Widening it, it just opened it up to speed," Talbott said. "And they took away the best barrel rack that I actually had, and it did kind of halfway protect me."

What's there instead, they said, are three little barrels, a solution they believe isn't enough. They're calling for a bigger and more visible barricade like the one they had before the road was widened.

TxDOT representatives told ABC13 that they're aware of the concerns. They add that if they were to put another barrier, they would need to look at crash data to determine what solutions would be appropriate there.

A fix can't come soon enough. The damage has been done to the business, but the toll it weighs on the Talbotts is incalculable.

"I'm just trying to hold it together," Talbott said.

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