Breaking News for Culpeper and Warrenton Accident Victims

Virginia Jackknife Crash Causes 6-Hour Traffic Backup on I-81

Posted on Dec 26, 2011

Walter Barrett, of Saltville, VA, was driving northbound on Interstate 81, approaching the Halls Bottom Road Bridge around mile marker 11, when a tractor-trailer attempted to pass him. Barrett had been working in Texas and living in his trailer and was now heading home pulling the large camper, some 35 feet long, with his pickup truck.

As the tractor-trailer moved along the camper and pickup, the airflow produced by both vehicle combinations was too great for the light camper. It started to swerve, hit the 18-wheeler’s side, and then swayed to the other side and struck the guardrail over the roadway shoulder.

Bouncing back, the camper collided again with the semi-truck, jackknifed, hit the guardrail a second time, and spun around.

The camper and pickup ended up blocking all northbound lanes of I-81. Meanwhile, the tractor-trailer driver stopped his truck further up the road and saw that the accident had not damaged it. The truck driver was unharmed. Barrett suffered light injuries and was transported to Bristol regional medical center for treatment. He was charged with reckless driving and failure to maintain control.

An eight-mile traffic backup lasted for six hours with repercussions in the city of Bristol and on Lee Highway.