A Greenwood man was injured early Wednesday morning when a commercial van collided with his semi-truck which was stuck at Rocklane and Griffith roads, a common occurrence at the rural intersection.
About 4:22 a.m. Wednesday, the semi, driven by Lucas Mung, got stuck trying to turn left onto Griffith Road from Rocklane Road, according to an accident report from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Semi accidents are a common occurrence on county roads that are too narrow for the 18-wheelers.
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The two-lane county road was not wide enough to accommodate the truck’s turn, and the truck ran off the roadway partially, damaging the pavement, said Major Andy Fisher of the sheriff’s office.
While stuck, a commercial van driven by Carol Ledwaba, 49, of Little Rock, Ark., struck the semi trailer, according to the report. Ledwaba told police she did not realize the semi was stuck, the report said.
Mung was transported to a local hospital with a minor neck injury, according to the report.
Since semi accidents on county roads are a known problem, Fisher, road commander for the sheriff’s office, forwards every similar accident report to the Johnson County Highway Department so they’re aware just how serious the problem is, he said.
Heavy truck accidents on rural roads are particularly a problem in east Greenwood, where semis and dump trucks are looking for shortcuts to get from Interstate 65 or Interstate 74 to warehouses and construction sites in the area, Fisher said.
A lot of times, truck drivers find themselves in tricky spots on the rural roads after taking routes suggested by GPS applications which give the shortest, but not the safest, route, he said.
The Rocklane and Griffith roads intersection is one of several that appears often in accident reports, but the problem of semis getting stuck is likely more widespread than even the sheriff’s office realizes, Fisher said. Only the semis that are involved in collisions get reported to police, he said.
In a recent poll of shift sergeants, each shift reported responding to one or two semi accidents like this each month, Fisher said. Already this year, there have been three semi accidents at this intersection alone, according to sheriff’s office data.
“It can happen daily that a semi gets stuck like that, but there might not be an accident so we would never know. But the homeowner is going to see it and know the extent of the problem,” Fisher said.
Homeowners in the area are also taking note of the problem and keeping track of the accidents. Steve and Elaine Dougherty, who live near the Rocklane and Griffith roads intersection recorded at least five last year, they said in September.
The City of Greenwood banned truck traffic on certain roads, but this problem intersection and many others where accidents are commonplace are in the county’s jurisdiction.
The city council last year banned truck traffic on County Road 75 East, which runs between Worthsville and Stop 18 roads. The council also considered banning truck traffic on County Road 250 East, but decided not to because the entire road is not within city limits.
Like County Road 250 East, Griffith Road is also partially in Greenwood’s jurisdiction and partially in the county’s, Fisher said.
The county highway department is looking at the situation but has been reluctant, so far, to ban semi traffic on rural county roads. Luke Mastin, the county’s highway director, said in September he hopes widening Worthsville Road east of Greenwood to the county line will accommodate more of the truck traffic and make these accidents less of an issue.
A four-stage widening of Worthsville Road is underway, with the road expected to connect truck traffic from the Johnson-Shelby county line to State Road 37, the future site of I-69, by 2024.
