Three injured in tractor trailer wreck in Tallulah Falls

Three people were injured Tuesday evening when a tractor trailer overturned and struck several cars on US 441/SR 15 in Tallulah Falls.

The accident happened around 6:30 p.m.

Trooper First Class Brady Galloway with Georgia State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa says the 18-wheeler was traveling southbound when it came around the curve too fast. “The trailer slid sideways into the oncoming northbound lane traffic. The trailer hit a vehicle as it was tipping over, knocked it into the guardrail. As the trailer tipped over it hit two additional vehicles,” Galloway says.

Michelle Halpern owns The Artist Kava House Grill which sits just above the accident site. She was in the parking lot when the truck rolled over.

“First you heard it – a very, very loud screech. You could tell that it was a truck ready to go over. We just looked over there and it toppled over,” Halpern says. She says the truck skidded approximately 100 yards. “Then I could see the man trapped inside when it came to a stop.”

Halpern and another bystander helped the truck driver get out through the windshield. It was at that point she says she saw another vehicle “squashed” between the tractor trailer and guardrail. Inside, says Halpern, was a woman who was returning home from the hospital after surgery.

That woman and the male driver of the Ford F-150 in which she was riding were both taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. The driver was conscious and alert, according to Troopers. The extent of their injuries is not known.

The tractor-trailer driver was slightly injured, according to Galloway, and was treated on the scene. He’s charged with failure to maintain lane.

A portion of US 441/SR 15 was blocked for several hours as crews worked to clear the scene.

Accident-prone site

The accident happened in a steep curve that’s a well-known trouble spot for truck rollover accidents. Tuesday’s accident marks the third time a tractor trailer has overturned in that curve in just the past year.

Amber Needles lives in Tallulah Falls and has seen it before.

“It’s a very bad curve and the truckers need to slow down, that’s why the sign is up there,” Needles says, referring to a posted speed limit sign that warns trucks to slow down as they enter the curve.

The sign shows a warning picture of a truck tipping over.

“They’ve got to slow down because that curve is no joke with them being top heavy,” Needles says emphatically. “Cars, trucks, regular vehicles need to slow down in this curve. It is very dangerous.”

As she watches four tow trucks pull vehicles away from the scene Needles adds, “Everybody that walked away today is very, very blessed.”