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Accidents In Tennessee
Note: I have researched and have found over 1,500 accidents involving
Utility Trailers as reported by newspapers In this state. I will feature 100 as
finances allow to purchase the articles.
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The Knoxville News-Sentinel
July 8, 2000
Edition: Final
Section: A Section
Page: A1
Two OR executives killed in freak accident
Loose utility trailer crashed into car
Author: Bob Fowler, Anderson County editor
Article Text:
OAK RIDGE -- Two top-level executives of the company that provides security services for the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation died in a freak traffic accident Friday morning, police said.
Walter N. Ferguson III and John E. Johns were killed when their car collided with a utility trailer that had come loose from a pickup truck.
Ferguson, 57, of Knoxville was president of Wackenhut Services Inc.
Johns, 52, of Walland was director of personnel security for Wackenhut.
That firm won the contract for DOE's Oak Ridge security services last year.
O. Lynn Calvert, the firm's deputy general manager, was injured in the wreck, which occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on Bethel Valley Road two miles east of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Calvert, 61, of Oak Ridge was taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge for treatment. He was listed in serious but stable condition late Friday.
Police said a 16-foot-long flatbed trailer came loose from a pickup truck that was headed east on Bethel Valley Road.
The trailer veered into the westbound lane and glanced off one vehicle before colliding head-on with the Nissan Maxima driven by Ferguson, according to police. Ferguson and Johns died from injuries after they were impaled by the trailer's tongue.
The pickup truck was driven by John D. Ritchie, 21, of Knoxville and owned by Ritchie Tractor Co. of Maryville. Ritchie had just delivered a utility vehicle to the Spallation Neutron Source construction site near ORNL and was headed back to Maryville, said Oak Ridge Police Lt. John Davidson.
Davidson said no charges have been filed, and the accident remains under investigation.
Leah Dever, DOE's Oak Ridge Operations manager, said Ferguson and Johns "were not only our business associates, but our friends. This is an untimely loss to an outstanding company and to the Department of Energy."
Bob Fowler may be reached at 865-481-3625 or bfowler@knoxnews.infi.net.
2. Knoxville News-Sentinel, The (TN) - July 4, 1991
UNHITCHED TRAILER SLAMS INTO TRUCK, KILLS 1 KNOXVILLE WOMAN DIES ON INTERSTATE
Hours before the July 4 holiday officially began Wednesday, a Knoxvillewoman was killed when a small, flatbed trailer broke loose from a pickup truck, crossed Interstate 75 and slammed into her vehicle.Authorities said Helen Hammack, 36, died on impact while driving southbound on Interstate 75 north of Callahan Road about 2:10 p.m.+ Hammack of Branson Avenue was driving a 1991 Ford Ranger pickup truck approaching Callahan Road when the trailer came loose from a northbound 1991 GMC...
3. The Commercial Appeal - November 18, 1994
Savannah man killed in crash
Charles H. Kelley of Savannah was killed Thursday morning when his car collided with a boat trailer that came loose from an oncoming truck, said officials.Kelley, 40, was northbound on Tenn. 128 when the boat and trailer came loose from a truck driven by James H. Kerr, 56, of Savannah, said Tracy Scott, dispatcher for the Tennessee Highway Patrol at Jackson.The accident happened at 6:35 a.m., 14 miles south of Savannah, Scott said....
4. Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - September 1, 1997
2-YEAR-OLD IS 2ND FATALITY IN RUNAWAY DIESEL TANK
A 2-year-old girl died Sunday, the second fatality of a Saturday accident in which a runaway 550-gallon diesel tank broke loose from a pickup truck and struck a Ford Escort.The accident occurred on Ark. 33 at the intersection of Interstate 40 about 14 miles west of Brinkley late Saturday morning. Fabian Robinson, 27, of Des Arc, the driver of the Escort, was killed.There were two passengers, Karen Adkins, 23, and Brianna Adkins, 2, both of DeValls Bluff, in the car. The child was...
5. The Knoxville News-Sentinel - December 13, 1998
Trailer comes free, crosses interstate, causes fatal wreck
A Knoxville woman was killed Saturday in an unusual accident on Interstate 40. According to Knoxville police, Joyce Hinton Proffitt, 41, of Deerfield Road was traveling eastbound on I-40 about 11:30 a.m. when her vehicle was struck by a trailer that had broken loose from a truck driven by Marvin Wayne that was traveling on the on-ramp to I-40 from Interstate 275. Police said the trailer broke free, traveled down an embankment, and crossed the westbound lanes of I-40 and the median before...
6. Herald-Citizen (Cookeville, TN) - May 15, 1999
Dayton man a fatality in boat trailer mishap
A Dayton man was killed in a traffic accident in Cumberland County on Friday when a boat trailer came unhitched from another vehicle and struck the car he was driving. And alcohol consumption could have played a role in causing that accident, according to a report by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Lewis Marcus Hutton, of Rhea County, was killed in the accident, which happened about 1 p.m. just outside of Crossville near Daddy's Creek Bridge on Highway 68.According to the...
7. Herald-Citizen (Cookeville, TN) - October 2, 2001
Algood man victim in White County wreck
An Algood man was killed in a traffic accident in White County on Saturday afternoon, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The death of Harris Eldridge Jr., 49, of Circle Road, Algood, was caused by a utility trailer which came loose from another vehicle and hit Eldridge's car head-on, according to the THP.It happened on Highway 136 near the Saylors Crossroads area in White County on Sept. 29 just after 1 p.m., according to a report by State Trooper Brian...
8. Newport Plain Talk, The (TN) - March 28, 2008
Hit by a loose Utility Trailer!
Former Bybee man killed in freak N.J. traffic accident
A Cocke County native living in New Jersey died in a traffic accident late Wednesday night on his way home from work. Lloyd Mitchell Lovell, 51, was killed instantly when his truck was struck by a trailer on the main highway about 10 miles from his home, said his sister, Mollie Lovell, of Bybee. The freak accident happened after 10 p.m. when Lloyd Lovell was driving his Ford truck to his Millville, N.J. home - about a 20 miles drive. He had ended his shift as a guard at the Southern State... .
9. Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - June 12, 2002
RISE IN ACCIDENTS PROMPTS FEDS TO ISSUE TOWING TIPS
The government is publishing a new set of tips for safe trailer towing to help an increasing number of Americans who own SUVs and pickups that can pull trailers and other vehicles.The number of accidents involving vehicles as they towed trailers increased 36 percent from 1992 to 2000, according to estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There were 57,455 crashes involving 26,570 injuries in 2000, compared with 42,242 crashes involving 19,896 injuries in 1992....
10. Daily Times, The (Maryville, TN) - January 4, 2001
Firefighters roundup cattle after trailer overturns
of The Daily Times Staff An impromptu cattle roundup kept Friendsville Fire Department volunteers busy Tuesday evening after 14 animals escaped from an overturned trailer.Firefighters responded to a report of a traffic accident with possible injuries on West Lamar Alexander Parkway at 7:35 p.m. They found a trailer owned by Raymond Loveday, Old Grey Ridge Road, Friendsville, had come loose at the hitch attaching it to a truck. The trailer, still attached by its safety chain, went...
11. Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) May 22, 1996
TRAFFIC ACCIDENT FATAL MEMPHIS
VEHICULAR ACCIDENTS KILL WOMAN, S. MEMPHIS MAN
On Monday, Joyce Denise Thomas, 42, was killed when an 18-foot trailer came loose from another vehicle and struck her 1990 Cadillac. She was heading north on Airways, north of the Interstate 240 overpass about 11:30 a.m. The other driver, Marvin Thomas, was charged with failure to have a safety chain securing the trailer.
12. Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
November 23, 2004
A runaway 12-foot trailer hit and killed a truck driver on impact as he stood outside his rig on Distribution Drive near South Mendenhall.
The bizarre accident happened at 8:36 a.m. Monday when a trailer from a FedEx bob truck apparently became unhitched as its driver was heading to Pemko Manufacturing Co. at 5535 Distribution Drive.
Memphis police Sgt. Vince Higgins said the trailer crushed a driver with Shipper's Transport in Nashville.
13. Herald-News, The (Dayton, TN) - March 21, 2007
Driver injured by runaway trailer
A Spring City woman was seriously injured and had to have part of her right leg amputated after a runaway trailer crashed into her car Saturday afternoon.Lori Overton, 43, of Spring City, was headed southbound in her 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck on Watts Bar Highway Saturday at about 3:40 p.m. Overton's 6-year-old daughter was seated beside her in a secured booster seat.Michael Allen Garrison, 28, also of Spring City was driving an Isuzu pickup truck north on Watts Bar...
14. More To come
Herald-Citizen (Cookeville, TN)
January 20, 2000
Section: News
Ice blamed for I-40 mishap
Article Text:
Slick road conditions in Putnam County this morning caused a freak accident between a Nascar trailer and a semi-truck in the eastbound lane of Interstate 40 near Monterey's exit 300. But no one was injured in the late morning accident.
Carl Edward Simmons of Mocksville, N.C., was driving a Ford Expedition truck and pulling a 24-foot Nascar trailer containing two Nascar tool carts.
Simmons and his wife, the only passenger, were en route to the National Stock Car Center in Connover, N.C., near the Charlotte Nascar Track, according to Trooper Mike Allen.
"He hit that little bridge up at exit 300 and the ice on it caused him to slide into the other lane," said Trooper Allen.
This caused the trailer to come completely loose from the truck, and the Nascar trailer slid into the side of a tractor trailer driven by Michael Don McClaskey of Ashland City, Tenn.
McClaskey "took the median" of the interstate to avoid jack-knifing his semi, according to Allen.
The semi-truck sustained "several dollars worth of damage," Allen said, but the driver was able to continue on to the next truck stop after pulling the damaged bumper and side mirror off his truck.
In a side-note, slick road conditions in the Monterey area caused that town to close its schools for the day late this morning.
January 20, 2000
Section: News
Ice blamed for I-40 mishap
Article Text:
Slick road conditions in Putnam County this morning caused a freak accident between a Nascar trailer and a semi-truck in the eastbound lane of Interstate 40 near Monterey's exit 300. But no one was injured in the late morning accident.
Carl Edward Simmons of Mocksville, N.C., was driving a Ford Expedition truck and pulling a 24-foot Nascar trailer containing two Nascar tool carts.
Simmons and his wife, the only passenger, were en route to the National Stock Car Center in Connover, N.C., near the Charlotte Nascar Track, according to Trooper Mike Allen.
"He hit that little bridge up at exit 300 and the ice on it caused him to slide into the other lane," said Trooper Allen.
This caused the trailer to come completely loose from the truck, and the Nascar trailer slid into the side of a tractor trailer driven by Michael Don McClaskey of Ashland City, Tenn.
McClaskey "took the median" of the interstate to avoid jack-knifing his semi, according to Allen.
The semi-truck sustained "several dollars worth of damage," Allen said, but the driver was able to continue on to the next truck stop after pulling the damaged bumper and side mirror off his truck.
