Driver crashes into six cyclists in Texas, with three hospitalised

A driver ​in Texas has crashed into six cyclists, resulting in three being hospitalised – the second time in a month that multiple riders have been injured in a crash involving a motor vehicle near Houston.

The latest incident took place on Highway 787 at around 11am on Saturday morning in Liberty County, which lies to the north east of the city, reports ABC13.

Liberty County Sheriff’s Office says that the riders were travelling east on an annual bike ride from San Diego, California, to St Augustine, Florida – a distance of 2,500 miles by the shortest route.

Sheriff's Patrol Corporal James W. McQueen said that the vehicle involved was believed to be a Ford Focus, and that two of the cyclists were taken by air ambulance to a hospital in Beaumont, a city around 85 miles east of Houston.

Another rider was taken to hospital in Kingswood in Houston’s northeastern suburbs.

The incident is being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety and comes five weeks after the 16-year-old driver of a Ford pick-up truck crashed into a group of six cyclists in Waller, which a little to the northwest of Houston.

The driver in that incident was reported to have been blowing exhaust smoke – or ‘rolling coal’ – at the cyclists, but no charges have ever been brought and the chief of Waller Police Department has since admitted that it “mishandled” the investigation.

> Police chief admits force ‘mishandled’ investigation into teen truck driver who hit six cyclists

The Waller County District Attorney’s Office has appointed a senior prosecutor to that case, who will work in partnership with a specialist in collision reconstruction to determine what caused the crash.