North Carolina Personal Injury Legal News
A young woman named Jessica Smith was tragically killed on Tuesday morning when she car struck the back of a tractor-trailer that was parked along the shoulder of Interstate 40. The accident happened in Guilford County, NC in the westbound lanes at around 5:00 am. Apparently, Ms. Smith was on her way to home to Winston-Salem from her job in the RTP.
According to available information, the tractor-trailer experienced a flat-tire so the driver pulled the rig onto the shoulder. However, it appears that he then went to sleep in the sleeper portion of the cab.
This is a terrible accident and it brings up many questions about what happened. First, did the tractor-trailer driver place reflective triangles on the approach to his rig in accordance with federal regulations? Did the tractor-trailer keep any lights on his rig to improve the conspicuity of the tractor-trailer? While it may be true that Ms. Smith did not stay within her lane of travel, the location of the tractor-trailer was very dangerous to on-coming vehicles such as Ms. Smith’s car.