Lawrenceburg, TN : 42-year-old man dies after being struck by TDOT salt truck on State Route 227 in Lawrence County on Thursday morning, February 26, 2015

A 42-year-old man was killed when he was hit by a Tennessee Department of Transportation salt truck while walking down a road in Lawrence County early Thursday morning.

It happened just after Midnight on State Route 227 near McKinney Road in the Iron City community.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol report, the victim, Jason Carter, was kneeling near the roadway when he was hit by the TDOT truck.

“[The driver] struck an object in the roadway he believed were debris,” Lt. Bill Miller with THP said.

According to Lt. Miller, the driver of the truck “proceeded on for a short distance” until his partner, who was following the truck in a second vehicle, notified him. The driver immediately turned around and returned to the scene of the accident.

The second TDOT worker immediately stopped, checked Carter’s well-being, and called 911.

“He was doing his job. The driver through it was debris,” Miller said, adding, “The sad fact of the matter is we have a person who lost their life.”

TDOT Director of Communications BJ Doughty said, “I can say that he [the driver] is very distraught over this incident. By all indications, this was just a very tragic accident. These drivers take a lot of pride in the service that they are doing for the State of Tennessee to be out there and try to improve road conditions and keep people safe, so this is the last thing that any of our employees want to see happen.”

Carter’s sister told News 2 her younger brother often walked along S.R. 227 to get to town. He lived approximately 100 yards away from where he was hit.

It is unclear why he was kneeling in the roadway.

The accident remains under investigation.

The driver directly involved in the accident has worked for TDOT for almost 15 years and was at the near of a 16-hour shift when the accident occurred.

Source :
Pedestrian hit, killed by TDOT salt truck in Middle Tennessee; investigation continuing