Driver walks free after hitting six cyclists, killing one in Liberty County

Could be an odd way of saying that instead of maintaining a steady speed behind them, they accelerated into the back of them. It sounds as though the investigators aren't much clearer at this point either, though, given that it says they are 'trying to piece together' what happened.

Sriracha wrote:

Struggling to understand the narrative. Was his "failure to maintain his speed" a consequence of colliding with so many cyclists, or did he hit the cyclists because he slowed down?

I thought that was strange wording, but it's just what they call speeding in Texas...

https://mcminnlaw.com/texas-refresher-failure-to-maintain-speed-law/

From your link, it looks as if the Texas "failure to maintain speed" law applies when one vehicle collides with  another, regardless of whether the colliding vehicle is exceeding the speed limit.

The extract from the law quoted on that page: “An operator may not drive at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances then existing”

The article goes on to say that this means that under Texas law the driver of the "back" vehicle is automatically at fault in the event of a rear-end collision.

Doesn't explain why the driver walked free, but makes the circumstances of the accident easier to understand.