A Greeville teen was airlifted to University of Louisville Hospital from the Western Kentucky Parkway on Saturday, July 21, following a one-vehicle accident that investigators were unable to determine the cause of.
Jeremy Wells, 18, was driving at around the 118 mile marker of the parkway, approximately six miles east of the city of Clarkson, just before 3 p.m. when witnesses to the accident said he ran off of the right side of the roadway without ever appearing to have applied his brakes.
Wells told the responding officer, Sheriff Rick Clemons, that he was unsure of what happened and why he wrecked his 2002 Mercury Sable LS.
When asked if he had fallen asleep at the wheel, Wells responded that he did not know.
First responders worked to extract the teen from the vehicle by mechanical means, and he was flown to Louisville for treatment of incapacitating injuries.
Wells was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
Three others were recently injured in traffic accidents which were caused by a drivers falling asleep at the wheel.
A Hopewell Road accident on Monday, July 23, at approximately 1:22 p.m. occurred when 54-year-old Pamela M. Cartwright, of Oak Hill Drive in Leitchfield, fell asleep while driving.
Cartwright was headed north on Hopewell Road in a 2000 Chevy Cavalier, according to a report filed by Clemons, when she fell asleep and left the roadway on the right side.
She struck a culvert, causing the vehicle to become airborne, and finally came to rest in a ditch.
Cartwright suffered incapacitating chest injuries, and was treated at the scene by Grayson County EMS before being transported to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center.
In a separate incident on the Western Kentucky Parkway approximately two miles east of Clarkson, two sustained injuries after 31-year-old Merrit Fields, of Millerstorwn Road in Leitchfield, fell asleep while driving a 2003 Suzuki Aerio.
The accident, which occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 19, happened at around mile marker 114, where Fields ran off of the roadway before traveling down the median and overturning, according to the report filed by Deputy Buck Meredith, of the Grayson County Sheriff’s Department.
Fields suffered multiple possible injuries, while a passenger in the vehicle, 39-year-old Thomas Roof, suffered non-incapacitating back injuries, and was treated by Grayson County EMS before being taken to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center.
“Today, people are so busy going to and from, it’s important to stay alert, to stay sharp,” Clemons said of the falling-asleep-at-the-wheel accidents.
“Make sure you’re well rested day or night when you prepare to drive,” he advised. He also warned of the dangers of taking any sleeping or other medications which could impair driving ability.
A separate one-vehicle crash, which injured one, was apparently caused by a deer running into the roadway.
The accident occurred on Peonia Road, around 4.3 miles east of Clarkson on Thursday, July 26 at 12 p.m.
Cody H. Meredith, 20, of Timberland Drive in Clarkson, was operating a 1991 Ford F150 when, according to his statement, a deer ran into the roadway and he subsequently lost control of the vehicle.
Meredith’s truck travelled down the ditch line before crossing a creek, flipping, and coming to rest on its top, said the accident report filed by Clemons.
Meredith was treated at the scene by EMS, and was transported to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center for treatment of multiple incapacitating injuries.
Meredith was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
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