Man Struck and Tragically Killed While Changing His Tire on Interstate 40

ORANGE COUNTY, NC – According to an online news report at abc11.com, a man was struck and tragically killed as he was attempting to change his tire on the side of Interstate 40 earlier this week.*

According to the news report, the man, aged 33, was struck by a vehicle in the early morning hours close to where Interstate 85 and Interstate 40 split in Orange County, North Carolina.

 It is believed that the man pulled over due to a flat tire. He was struck shortly after he finished repairing his tire. He was gathering up his tools to get back in his car and on his way.

The driver who struck the man fled the scene of the accident.  The case is currently under investigation as a hit-and-run crash.  No information about the hit-and-run driver’s vehicle has been released to the public.  There are no further details about the accident at this time.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), North Carolina is among one of the worst states in the country for fatal vehicular accidents.  The NHTSA reported that there were 1,412 traffic-related deaths in North Carolina back in 2017.  This places North Carolina only behind California, Georgia, Texas and Florida. The NHTSA provides that driver impairment represents one-third of the deadly accidents in North Carolina.

The city of Charlotte is part of the problem.  The amount of traffic deaths increased greatly in the last year, even though the number of total accidents went down.  Last year, Charlotte reported that they had 71 deadly accidents that resulted in the death of 74 individuals on city roadways.  This is compared to the 53 fatalities that occurred in the year before, marking the third consecutive annual increase.  Through June of this year, Charlotte has already reported that it saw 35 fatal accidents.

Accident News is a safety and education initiative from Montlick & Associates, designed to help people better understand and thereby avoid common accident causes.  To learn more about our injury prevention programs, including iridesafe.com - click here. We hope you are never in an accident, but if you or family member are injured, call Montlick & Associates 24/7 for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) or use our live chat at Montlick.com.

Source:https://abc11.com/traffic/fatal-crash-closes-1-lane-of-i-40-in-orange-county/5542122/