Big rig plows into trooper, roadside assistance patrollers in I-40 pileup
Mar. 22—A four-vehicle pileup on Interstate 40 in Haywood County injured six people Thursday night — including a Highway Patrol trooper and two roadside assistance patrollers — when a tractor trailer ran into the stopped vehicles from behind.
The trooper and IMAP drivers had stopped on the shoulder of I-40 near exit 20 at Jonathan Creek to respond to an accidents involving two other vehicles around 11 p.m.
An 18-wheeler hit the IMAP truck. The impact pushed it into the state trooper's car, and then into one of the vehicles in the original wreck.
The incident underscores the danger of those who work on the roadside of being struck from behind.
"I've been on the highway patrol for almost 20 years and your head is always on a swivel," N.C. State Highway Patrol Sgt. Brent Hipp said.
No one was killed or seriously injured. However, six people were transported to the hospital, including two IMAP employees based in Haywood County: Christopher Strader and Jody Moore.
"We were blessed. It could have been so much worse. Not just for my guys but for everyone on the scene. We definitely had some higher power involved in that last night," said Chad Franklin, who supervises the Regional Intelligent Transportation System.
State Trooper C.S. Hall was also transported to the hospital after the wreck. Hipp said that the presence of the IMAP vehicle likely saved lives, as the heavier truck blunted and absorbed some of the impact from the 18-wheeler.
"I think last night if that truck hadn't been there, we very well could have lost a trooper or other people involved in it," Hipp said. "We were very fortunate. It was a severe impact to our patrol vehicle."
IMAP employee Strader was just hit on the roadside in February, as well, in an incident along the Waynesville stretch of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway.
In the past month alone, four or five IMAP trucks working 17-county area of Western North Carolina have been hit, Hipp said.
Indeed, the job of Incident Management Assistance Patrol drivers is inherently dangerous.
"Sadly, being hit is not uncommon. Of the 13 IMAP patrollers in the 17 western counties, 11 have been hit by motorists while doing their job," said Franklin. "That's the job of our guys to protect the emergency responders and the general public."
Two individuals from the original wreck and the tractor trailer driver were also checked out at the hospital for injuries Thursday night.
The initial accident occurred where I-40 narrows to one lane just after exit 20 due to bridge construction work now in its second year. Congestion around the lane reduction was likely a contributing factor in the initial wreck, Hipp said.
Hipp highlighted the importance of the Slow Down, Move Over laws in North Carolina. Those laws require drivers to move over a lane and reduce their speed when an emergency vehicle is parked on the side of the road.
"Just pay attention to people working on the side of the road," Mountain Region Incident Management Engineer Marion Ferguson said. "These people are out there trying to do things for all sides of the public. They have families at home they'd like to get home to as well. All these people deserve respect. Slow down and give them a little room to work."
Ferguson also made sure to thank all first responders — not just the ones on the scene Thursday night, but all first responders who work alongside the IMAP drivers.
The accident is still under investigation. The truck driver from Sevierville, Tennessee, has not yet been charged with anything, but charges could be forthcoming following an investigation.
