Trucks collide
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 27, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
One of the two overturned trucks that collided at the intersection of U.S. 117 and Arrington Bridge Road is turned upright this morning. Traffic was backed up on the highway as far away as the Wayne County Fairgrounds and several miles away on Pecan Road.
A wreck on U.S. 117 at Arrington Bridge Road involving two big rigs shut down part of the highway early this morning.
Two 18-wheelers collided at about 5:30 a.m., sending one driver to Wayne Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.
Traffic during the early commute was backed up as far south as Five Points Road near the Wayne County Fairgrounds as northbound motorists were forced into one lane and then diverted east onto Arrington Bridge Road.
According to the state Highway Patrol, John Talley Cooper, 42, of Crawfordville, Ga., failed to yield the right of way as he re-entered the highway after stopping at a gas station. A northbound semi then slammed into Cooper, forcing his rig off the road and into a ditch, where it overturned.
The driver of the second truck, Reginald Henry Williams, 49, of Goldsboro, sustained minor injuries, Trooper C. S. Granger said.
Granger said Cooper will be cited as the at-fault driver.
"He made a right turn out of the gas station and he failed to yield to oncoming traffic," Granger said.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office and Mar Mac Volunteer Fire Department also responded. Crews from George's Body Shop and Edwards Truck Services helped clear the wreckage.
Four Edwards wreckers -- two positioned in the ditch on the opposite side of the overturned rig and two up on the highway -- used winches, chains and guidewires to right the tractor trailer. It was 7:30 before both tractor trailers were clear of the roadway. The northbound lanes reopened at about an hour later.