Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog
A Floyd County Georgia woman was killed on I-75 in a collision with a tractor trailer while she was trying to change her tire. According to this article by Kim Sloan, Help Sought in Fatal Accident” the Serious Collision Reconstruction Team of the Georgia State Patrol is looking for eyewitnesses to the incident.Courtney Adcock, of Shannon, Georgia near Rome, Georgia was struck and killed by a passing tractor trailer in Whitfield County while helping a friend with a disabled vehicle on the highway at at night. The SCRT unit investigates all fatal accidents on state roads and they do an excellent job of examining the evidence to determine if the trucker was at fault for the collision. In this one, it sounds like they have not made a determination of blame yet and that is the reason for the search for eyewitnesses.
When I was defending tractor trailer companies, fully 30% of the fatal incidents I looked into had to do with disabled vehicles on the side of the road. Although it may seem obvious, many people with blown tires and other mechanical troubles chose to work on their vehicles or stay in their cars with tractor trailers whizzing by at 70 miles per hour and that is a terrible risk to run. The physics of an impact over 45 miles per hour are often fatal as passenger vehicles and SUVs are unable to absorb that kind of energy, especially when the mass moving at those speeds or above is close to the 80,000lb weight of many tractor trailers.
My plea to my readers is this; if something goes wrong with your car, do not stay with it on the side of the interstate. Gather your family and move as far off the roadway as possible and then call for help. The risks of staying next to a lane of travel are astronomical and please don’t even think of trying to change a tire on the interstate. Risking your life to save a $50.00 tire change fee with a wrecker service is a bad way to save money. I would rather go broke for lack of clients than see another senselessly wasted life. These accidents can be avoided with a little common sense.