http://www.thedailytimes.com/Local_News/story/Wreck-involving-tractor-trailer-on-%27The-Dragon%27-kills-motorcyclist-id-014205Wreck involving tractor-trailer on 'The Dragon' kills motorcyclist
Buy Iva Butler ivab@thedailytimes.com
A motorcyclist died of injuries he sustained this morning when the motorcycle he was riding on a section of U.S. 129 called “The Dragon” collided with a flatbed tractor-trailor.
Blount County 911 Communications Center received the call at 9:42 a.m. and referred it to Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The accident occurred near Mile Marker 3 on “The Dragon,” which runs from Tab Cat Creek Bridge to the North Carolina line.
Lifestar was called to fly the severely injured motorcyclist to University of Tennessee Medical Center, but he reportedly did not survive the injuries.
Motorcyclist Glenn Shilenberg of Amburn, Pa., told a reporter he witnessed the crash, saying, “The trailer tires were on the other side of the white line.”
The motorcyclist was traveling south and witnesses said when he came around a curve three miles from the North Carolina line he encountered the northbound tractor-trailer. The back wheels of the trailer were over the white line on the motorcyclist’s side of the roadway, Shilenberg said.
“The poor guy didn’t stand as chance,” he said.
Motorcyclists who were riding with the man said he was from Tennessee, but did not know what city.
The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of family.
A logo on the driver’s side door identified the tractor as belonging to Thom’s Transport Co. in Blackbear, Ga.
Tennessee Highway Patrol is still conducting the investigation.