Two injured in Tuesday accident

Published 4:21 pm Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Two men were injured Tuesday afternoon in an accident involving two trucks on U.S. 84 West near Brinson.

The accident happened at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, just east of the intersection of U.S. 84 and Georgia 310.

A front-end loader belonging to Glenn Heard Farms was slowly traveling westbound on U.S. 84; behind it was a pickup truck following behind it as a safety precaution, said Trooper 1st Class Brian Palmer of the Georgia State Patrol’s Colquitt post.

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A Volvo semi-trailer truck belonging to Eleets Trucking of Jacksonville, Fla., was also traveling westbound on the highway in the same lane as the front-end loader. As the semi-truck driver realized he was going much faster than the farm vehicles, he attempted to swerve into the inside lane and miss them, TFC Palmer said.

However, the semi truck clipped the rear of the pickup truck in a forceful collision, pushing the smaller truck forward into the front end loader. The pickup truck overturned in the ditch north of the highway, coming to rest on its driver’s side.

The semi-trailer truck continued on 456 feet from the point of impact, across the highway median, the eastbound lanes and into a wooded area. The semi smashed into a tree, totaling its front end.

The pickup truck driver, identified by TFC Palmer as Chris Bailey of Miller County, was able to get out of his vehicle by himself before emergency responders arrived at the scene. Bailey had visible injuries and complained of back pain.

The semi-truck driver, whose identity was not immediately available, complained of chest pain.

Both drivers were taken by ambulance to Memorial Hospital, Palmer said.