In the winter of 2005 a 52-year-old male emergency roadside technician (ERT), (providing traffic control support for police), died when he fell approximately 75-80 feet from a bridge after being struck by a single-unit truck. A policeman had responded to a call from a semi-truck driver on the interstate who had blown a tire while driving on an interstate. After the tire blew, the driver immediately pulled the semi onto the right shoulder and called police for assistance. This section of the shoulder was on a bridge on the blind side of a hill, and was too narrow to accommodate the width of the semi. The back left corner of the semi extended out into the right-hand travel lane of the interstate. A police officer arrived and with emergency lights flashing, parked his cruiser on the shoulder at the top of the hill behind the semi. The officer requested assistance with traffic control. An employee of a company contracted by the local police to provide roadside assistance arrived in a panel truck.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) for Kentucky: Emergency Roadside Technician Dies When Struck By a Single-Unit Truck on an Interstate Shoulder
2007
8 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation Safety , Environmental Health & Safety , Public Health & Industrial Medicine , Police, Fire, & Emergency Services , Traffic control workers , Traffic accidents , Accident analysis , Bridges , Trucks , Kentucky , Interstate highways , Transportation safety , Warning signals , Risk factors , Emergency responders , Training , Truck drivers , Traumatic injuries , Accident prevention , Emergency roadside technician (ERT)