Motorcycle driver dies on way to hospital after crash along "The Dragon"

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

The driver of a motorcycle died on the way to the hospital after his motorcycle hit a truck while driving along "The Dragon."

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a tractor trailer was traveling along the highway at mile marker 5 when part of the truck crossed over a center line in a curve.

The motorcycle, driven by 45-year-old Dwight Woodard, was traveling southbound and hit the truck driven by 47-year-old Bobby Coleman. The motorcycle and Woodard went under the truck and was run over by its wheels.

Officials transported Woodard to Blount Memorial. While he was alive and talking at the scene, he died on his way to the hospital.

According to officials, the accident happened close to 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning three miles from the North Carolina state line.

Charges for the incident are pending.

[old2soon]

Prayers up from the ozarks for the rider his family and friends. R I P bro. RIDE SAFE.

[thumper]

Big vehicles and the Dragon just don't mix.  Hate to hear that.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

A petition is on a few local websites I go to I signed it but doubt anything can be done to stop the 18 wheelers on The Dragon . US 129 is a state highway and Robbinsville,NC depends on it for supply's to business in the area.I've been on it many times with 22 wheeler's and 32 wheeler's heavy hauler lowboy trailer's as we have several powerlines and two dams in the area.

http://www.change.org/petitions/restrict-use-of-us-highway-129-to-non-commercial-vehicles?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=own_wall

First picture is The Hellbender 28 ...Rainbow Falls



Deal's Gap



The Over-look on The Dragon



Hellbender store

[Traveler-MI]

The week I was there I didn't see any big trucks -- but it was a concern around every turn.

[sheets]

Curious why the  DOT doesn't limit the route to 10-wheelers... with equipment trailers, only. Anything more than that should be a permit load. Limit the number of permits per day. A route in CA has markings painted on a paved shoulder... if you fit between these marks... you are good to go. If you don't fit... you are in violation. Warning and Regulation signs posted many places. Get in a bind... and you exceed the allowable limits... you be toast.   

[Traveler-MI]

iI heard it mentioned that it was a state highway,  it is not -- it is US129

[BigAl]

I almost had a leg chopped off by a 18 wheeler front bumper on the Dragon Before.

He was across the centerline with the frontend of the truck and slammed his brakes on at the last minute.

As he was going to run out of road.

He did not try to stop for me.

He was about to go off of a 50 ft. cliff.

Just so happens it saved my arse.

I looked up and called him a SOB, but in the same instance I was happy to be alive.

AL

[alph]

The week I was there I didn't see any big trucks -- but it was a concern around every turn.

same here!

[X Ring]

From my understanding because 129 is a US Highway not a State Highway the TN and NC Departments of Transportation can't bar its use by commercial vehicles as that would be interfering with interstate commerce.  The only solutions I can see are to petition the US DOT to bar its use by tractor trailers unless escorted by law enforcement or to petition the US DOT to turn over 129 to NC and TN to be redesignated as State Highways.  Then the state DOTs could restrict its use.

Marty

[3fan4life]

From my understanding because 129 is a US Highway not a State Highway the TN and NC Departments of Transportation can't bar its use by commercial vehicles as that would be interfering with interstate commerce.  The only solutions I can see are to petition the US DOT to bar its use by tractor trailers unless escorted by law enforcement or to petition the US DOT to turn over 129 to NC and TN to be redesignated as State Highways.  Then the state DOTs could restrict its use.

Marty

There has to be a way,

Big trucks are banned on US 52 south from Fancy Gap, VA.

But then an alternate route (I-77) is available to them.   

[Traveler-MI]

From what I was told. anymore it is accidental when a truck ends up on it -- usually someone new looking at a map and figuring they can save 200 miles by going that way rather than around -- Kinda like Hwy 60 through West Virginia.  You can go 60 or so miles and catch the nice interstate or take US60 and do it Blue Highway.

[DDT (12)]

Been riding that road many, many years... I've seen a few 'big rigs' on it a few times, and in some of those switchbacks they do take 'all' of the road to get around. Mostly, however, I've seen cars, RVs and pick-ups, many pulling trailers (campers, boats, utility, etc.) - all moving slowly compared to us bikers. All of us two-wheelers were there for the same reason, and all of us took chances to 'enhance the experience'... a very toxic mixture.

'Back in the day' when I first stood beside the 'Tree Of Shame' and pondered its implications, there was a fatality on the Dragon every three or four years... nowadays there are three or four fatalities every year. The truck traffic seems to me to have dimenished a bit, but other traffic has only increased.

At the station I see bike tags from all over North America... Canada and western states, as well as New England and the midwest, and countless ones from dear ol' Dixie... I've listened to stories from wide-eyed riders as they eagerly told of their 'personal best' times, of scraping various parts of their bikes in curves, of near misses, and some of actual crashes they surivied. Heck, I've even participated in some of those conversations myself!

I keep expecting some leagal entity to really crack down on that stretch, and while there is a more promenient LEO presence the last few years, the tragic stories continue... the one above being the latest I've heard. I ride this great road very seldom any more... and usually only on weekdays not near holidays or other times when the traffic might be heavy and the enthuiasts 'screamin' ' through them hills... it's just to dangerous for me sometimes...

Not sure how much blame for all of that falls on the 'other vehicle' drivers. It seems to me that those of us who travel far to test our limits and push out boundaries must figure into that equation some way or other... Reckon?

DDT

[R J]

Right on the $$$$$ DDT...........    Bikers carry just as much fault or maybe even a little more.    Several of the riders are way over their abilities......

[Traveler-MI]

Agreed.  When I was there in May there were a lot of crotch rockets that were passing other bikes on the curves.  You can see them in all the videos I shot going down and up the Tail.

On one run there was a car that was actually sitting stopped in the right lane, it was until I got around him that I noticed that he had torn the entire front end of his car off probably hitting one of the walls.  But the problem was he left it sitting there in the lane.

There is enough culpability for all of us.  I know I took that exact turned at mile marker five, Kill Boy Shade Tree Curve, much faster than I should have and almost went off the road on a left curve coming back out of it.  sometimes it is hard to control the adrenaline that says "rolled it on".