Accidents between a large truck and a smaller passenger vehicle rarely turn out well and can even be deadly. Any time that a big rig, dump truck, or other types of work truck has to come to a quick stop or make an evasive action, it can take a distance of more than 100 feet to bring it under control.
According to a story that appeared on the News Channel 9’s website, this may have been what happened in a collision that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th, on the Lee Highway near Ooltewah, Tennessee.
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Chief Brian Hickman with the College Dale Police Department said in a statement that at approximately 2:00 p.m., police dispatchers received a call about an explosion that happened near Edgmon Road on the Lee Highway near the town of Ooltewah. Officers arrived on the scene of a collision that involved a Volkswagen Beetle and a city sanitation truck.
Before the crash, dispatchers had also received a call of a Volkswagen that was wandering all over the roadway. Chief Hickman believes that the vehicle that they received calls about and the one involved in the crash is the same.
Preliminary investigations conducted at the crash scene seem to indicate that the Volkswagen crossed the centerline, colliding head-on with the garbage truck. The crash impact caused the garbage truck to roll off the pavement near the railroad crossing.
The driver of the Volkswagen was trapped inside of his crashed vehicle, and the garbage truck caught fire.
Firefighters from the Chattanooga Volunteer Fire Department had to extricate the driver of the Volkswagen from his vehicle. He was transported by LifeForce to Erlanger for treatment of injuries he suffered in the crash.
The driver of the sanitation truck and a passenger suffered only minor injuries in the crash and were treated at the scene by paramedics.
Members of the community have voiced concerns about the number of accidents that have happened at the intersection at Lee Highway and Edgmon Road. A spokesperson for the City of Collegedale said that improvements to the intersection are planned soon.
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