CHARLOTTE — The National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Charlotte Tuesday to begin its investigation into Saturday’s deadly, multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 485 that claimed six lives.
“They may suspect there’s some issues that need to be examined, perhaps, like better ways to prevent these underride accidents,” said Alan Diehl, a former member of the NTSB.
He knows the agency’s expertise when it comes to investigating high-profile transportation crashes.
“They document that,” he said. “They try to understand and prove why it happened and they’re most important function is to make recommendations.”
Two passenger vehicles collided on I-485 near Wilkinson Boulevard before both slamming into an 18-wheeler parked on the shoulder, said investigators with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
“It brings back very bad memories,” said Jennifer Tierney, with the Truck Safety Coalition, a group that pushes for safety improvements on tractor trailers.
The issue is personal to Tierney.
“My dad came around the curve. He hit the side of the truck,” she said. “Daddy went all the way under the side of the truck.”
The coalition she chairs has been pushing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make rear and side guards mandatory on all big rigs.
“The part that keeps us from healing is that there’s something that could have prevented this and that makes it worse,” Tierney said.
“They do not have enough data on these sorts of crashes, because they are horrendously underreported,” said Zach Cahalan, who works with Teirney on the coalition. “We’re talking over 5,500 large truck crashes a year.”
The NTSB told our partners at The Charlotte Observer the agency’s investigators will look into safety issues regarding the crash on I-485, including drivers’ experiences, the truck parked on the highway shoulders, among other factors.
“For whatever reason, they suspect there’s something to be learned here and they want to make sure we solve it at a national level,” Diehl said.
The NTSB will issue its preliminary report in about 30 days, which should provide more details about the crash.
The final report and recommendations will take a bit longer.
VIDEO: 6 killed, teen survives crash on I-485; good Samaritan stayed by her side
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