Only two people received minor injuries after two multi-car accidents on I-81 near the Greene/Hamblen County line Monday morning.
The first accident happened before 7:30 AM when a tractor trailer travelling northbound at mile marker 15 crossed into the median and into oncoming traffic in the southbound lane. The semi struck a car driven by Jeffery Jones in the front. Both the semi and Jones’ vehicle came to rest off the roadway. A guardrail was torn loose in that accident and was laying across all southbound lanes when it was struck by a car driven by Briana Bailey. A fourth car, driven by a Virginia man, struck the guardrail and Bailey’s car in the rear. Only Jones, the driver of the car struck by the semi, was injured.
Just after 9:00 AM, another tractor trailer driven by a North Carolina man struck a total of five other cars which had slowed for the earlier accident. The semi struck a car in the rear, knocking it into the median. The semi struck a another car in the rear, which pushed it into a third car, and knocked them both into the median. The truck continued into a fourth car, which became pinned underneath the cab of the semi, and then on into a fifth car. The entire rear end of the fifth car was demolished, but the driver, and Arkansas man, was lucky to escape with only minor injuries.
Traffic remained slowed until early afternoon. The Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad, EMS, THP, Sheriff’s Department, and the Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department all responded.
