A 22-year-old Specialist assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, died 25 March 2020 in a PMV-4 mishap on the installation at 0430 local. The Soldier lost control of his PMV and struck a culvert, flipping the vehicle upon impact. He was partially ejected out of the driver’s side window. It is suspected that he was not wearing a seat belt, driving intoxicated and traveling at a high rate of speed. The Soldier was under a 2200 to 0500 curfew as part of COVID-19 prevention measures. His vehicle was discovered by the staff duty officer at 0430. The mishap is under investigation
Since 2016, the Army has lost an average of 34 Soldiers a year to PMV-4 mishaps. This mishap is the 16th PMV-4 fatality of FY20. Alcohol, no seat belts, reckless driving, driving after midnight, breaking curfew, all during the duty week, are leading contributing factors to these types of accidents. Supervisors are the first line of defense to stop this behavior before it adds to the leading cause of Army mishap fatalities.