85-Year-Old Pedestrian Killed in Tractor-Trailer Truck Accident
Fatal Crossville Pedestrian Truck Accident
On November 20th, an elderly man was killed by a semi tractor-trailer truck at an intersection in Crossville, a town of 12,000 people found approximately two hours east of downtown Nashville.
According to the Crossville Chronicle, the accident occurred at the corner of Main Street and 4th Street, near the Cumberland County Courthouse, when the man stepped out into the intersection just as a red traffic signal turned green.
Sadly, the victim—a military veteran and an ordained minister—was struck, knocked down, and subsequently run over. He was transported to Cumberland Medical Center, where he passed away.
Unfortunately, there have been more than a few fatal truck accidents in Middle Tennessee this year. In November, for example, we wrote about a truck accident in Spring Hill in which a 35-year-old woman lost her life when her Jeep struck a tractor-trailer head-on, causing both car and truck to burst into flames. In that article I noted many of the most common causes of tractor-trailer accidents, which include jackknife accidents, lost-load accidents, underride accidents, and rear-end collisions.
Blind-Spots a Common Cause of Big Truck Accidents
But so-called blind-spots—sometimes referred to as “no zones”—are also a common contributing factor in many crashes involving big trucks. Typically, a truck driver will cause a blind-spot crash when he or she veers into an adjacent lane and strikes another vehicle, one which was in a blind spot.
This is a particular problem with tractor-trailers, which are approximately 70 feet long and have blind spots along the rear and sides of the truck. (This is why the back of tractor-trailer trucks are often emblazoned with a sticker that says “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you,” or words to that effect.)
But a tractor-trailer also has blind spots in front of the truck. Keep in mind that a tractor-trailer cab has a very large hood, and being high up, a truck driver may not be able to see a pedestrian who is close to the front of the cab. This is particularly true if the pedestrian is in front of the passenger side of the truck, which appears to have been the case in the above-described incident.
Truck Accidents and Pedestrian Safety in Nashville
As such, the Crossville accident should serve as a reminder of the dangers of truck blind spots, as well as the rising number of pedestrian fatalities occurring on roads in Nashville and the rest of Middle Tennessee.
As you may have heard, in 2017 more pedestrians were killed in accidents in Nashville than any other year in the city’s history. The trend is so ominous that walkbikenashville.org recently launched Nashville Look For Me, an ad campaign that aims to raise awareness about local pedestrian safety issues and what can be done to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities.
I encourage you to review the statistics and information at Nashvillelook4me.com, as well as our truck accidents page and pedestrian accidents page. And if you or a loved one has been involved in a truck accident or pedestrian accident in Nashville, contact us or call us at 615-256-6666. We will fight to get you justice!