On June 14, 2008, a 51-year-old male volunteer Assistant Chief (the victim) was fatally injured after being struck by a tractor-trailer. The victim was assisting at a motor vehicle incident that had been caused by near-zero visibility conditions. Unforeseen weather conditions had caused smoke from a contained fire on a nearby military range along with fog to move across the four-lane highway. A truck driver attempting to slow his tractor-trailer down after encountering the smoke and fog swerved suddenly to miss a vehicle parked in the highway striking a Sheriff's Deputy's patrol car before striking and killing the victim. A Sheriff's Deputy also lost his life and another was injured during this incident. Key contributing factors identified in this investigation include inability to establish traffic control on both sides of a divided highway, ineffective coordination of the multiple agencies involved in the emergency response, and unsafe vehicle operation of motorists during inclement weather and environmental conditions.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Volunteer Assistant Chief Killed When Struck by Tractor-Trailer While Operating at a Motor Vehicle Crash - North Carolina, FACE-F2008-17
2008
22 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation , Police, Fire, & Emergency Services , Fire Services, Law Enforcement, & Criminal Justice , Transportation & Traffic Planning , Emergency Services & Planning , Job Training & Career Development , Physiology , Fire fighters , Motor vehicles , Emergency responders , Police officers , Accident analysis , Accident prevention , Injury prevention , Traumatic injuries , Surveillance , Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE)