San Benito, TX — September 8, 2024, a bicyclist was injured in a hit-and-run accident at about 11:40 p.m. on westbound Expressway 83.

A preliminary accident report indicates that an unidentified vehicle hit a bicycle near Whalen Road and continued driving.

The bicyclist, a 52-year-old Harlingen man whose name has not been made public yet, was seriously injured in the crash, according to the report.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Cameron County crash.

Commentary

After serious crashes, people naturally want answers, yet too often, those answers remain just out of reach. This is especially true when a crash involves a hit-and-run, where the unknowns can overshadow the facts. But that shouldn’t stop us from asking the right questions.

Did the authorities thoroughly investigate the crash? In hit-and-run cases, a careful and complete investigation is even more important than usual. It's not enough to log the scene and move on. A real inquiry would involve canvassing the area for surveillance footage, talking to any nearby witnesses and inspecting the roadway for scattered debris that could help identify the vehicle. It’s unclear whether those steps were taken here, and unfortunately, not every agency brings the same resources or crash training to these cases. A late-night crash on a stretch of highway might not draw the attention it deserves, but that doesn’t mean the investigation should be anything less than thorough.

Has anyone looked into the possibility that a vehicle defect caused the crash? With no vehicle on hand, it’s easy to assume there’s nothing to inspect, but that assumption could overlook key clues. For example, if the driver later turns up claiming brake failure or steering issues caused them to flee out of panic or confusion, those claims would need to be checked against the condition of the vehicle. And if the vehicle is ever recovered, a full mechanical inspection should be a priority. Skipping that step could miss something critical.

Has all the electronic data relating to the crash been collected? In this kind of crash, digital evidence could be the difference between identifying the vehicle or letting it vanish into the night. Traffic cameras, dashcams, nearby business security footage, even phone tower pings; any of these could help fill in the gaps. If there’s a time-stamped image of a suspect vehicle or a record of sudden braking or acceleration from a nearby car’s onboard systems, that’s worth digging into. But the longer the delay in collecting this data, the more likely it is to be lost for good.

Crashes like this leave behind more questions than answers, but those questions are exactly where the truth often hides. Without persistent digging, the story risks staying incomplete; not because the facts don’t exist, but because no one looked hard enough.

• Investigations need more than a surface review to uncover what really happened.
• Mechanical issues could still matter, even in hit-and-run cases.
• Digital clues might be the only way to find the vehicle and understand the crash.