NTSB Number NTSB/HAR-02/01
NTIS Number PB2002-916201
PDF Document(1MB)
Executive Summary: About 8:52 a.m. on July 26, 2000, an eastbound 1999 International truck tractor pulling a loaded semitrailer, and traveling at a driver-estimated speed of 65 mph in a 55-mph work zone, collided with a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) vehicle trailing construction vehicles. Witnesses reported that the patrol car exploded and caught fire at impact. The patrol car was pushed approximately 192 feet before it came to rest in the median. The tractor-semitrailer continued through a 61-foot depressed earthen median and into the westbound lanes, where it collided with a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer. The tractor-semitrailer then continued across the travel lanes and came to rest in a wooded area on the north side of I-40. The State trooper in the THP vehicle was killed, and the Chevrolet driver was seriously injured.
The following major safety issues were identified in this accident: