CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Troopers said a tractor-trailer caught fire when it turned off Interstate 77 south to the outer loop of Interstate 485 Friday, stuck an abandoned car and slid into a bridge.
The driver of the tractor-trailer died.
Troopers said the abandoned car was practically parked in the travel lanes of I-485 and it had only been sitting there for 20 minutes before the crash.
"Unfortunately, where that car was parked was encroaching in the lanes of travel," Trooper Ray Pierce said. "The tractor-trailer, as he came around that curve didn’t have a lot of time to react and that’s unfortunately what caused the crash."
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Pierce said a trooper was on their way to a call about the abandoned car when the crash happened. He said the trooper likely would have had the car towed because of where it was sitting.
Channel 9's Gina Esposito captured several examples of abandoned cars on I-485. She pulled numbers and found Mecklenburg County is on pace to have more abandoned cars towed this year than last year.
From January to July of this year, crews towed 236 abandoned cars off of our interstates. For all of last year, they towed 295.
The numbers also showed more abandoned cars are being towed from I-485 than I-77 and I-85.
There were 105 cars towed on I-485 compared to 64 on I-77, and 65 on I-85 during that same period.
"It's like the Bermuda Triangle," Pierce said. "So anywhere on I-485, if you ride enough, you’ll see an abandoned vehicle."
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According to Pierce, if drivers have to ditch their car for any reason, they have 24 hours to pick it up. After that, troopers tag it and tow it. If a car is parked on travel lanes, it will be towed immediately.
Channel 9 asked troopers why it's sometimes days, even weeks before stranded cars are moved off the interstate.
Pierce said priority calls, including crashes, come first. He said it's also time-consuming. A trooper has to wait until the car is towed to make sure it doesn't get stolen and that can take about 45 minutes.
Drivers can be cited for leaving their car parked on the travel lanes.
Troopers are still speaking with the district attorney about whether they'll consider charges in Friday's case.