CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), motorists in the Volunteer State are five times more likely to be distracted drivers than motorists in other parts of the country.
In 2023, THP reported, 9,873 crashes involving distracted drivers, which works out to one such crash every 26 minutes.
A 34-year-old Clarksville man knows how quickly it can all happen. He told News 2 he feels very lucky to be alive after two separate vehicles collided with him last week. Both crashes were captured on video.
The incident reportedly happened around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27 after Brandon Bullock, a field operations manager for the Solaren Risk Management, left his Clarksville home to head to work in Mt. Juliet.
According to Bullock and the Clarksville Police Department, a 24-year-old driving a red Dodge Charger merged onto Warfield Boulevard, striking Bullock's security car and causing it to spin around.
The security officer regained control as his car came to a stop at a 45 degree angle. The other vehicle also stopped. Bullock quickly activated his emergency lights, but a few seconds later, the video shows headlights speeding right at him. Then, a car smashed right into Bullock's security vehicle.
"An older gentleman that claimed not to see my lights or my strobes that were going off hit me head-on going about 45, 50 mph," Bullock recalled.
In that moment, as the headlights rushed toward him, Bullock said he could only brace himself and think about his fiancé and children.
"We're supposed to be getting married next May, and that incident right there could've definitely left me paralyzed or out of work for a long term of time," he told News 2.
According to authorities, the 78-year-old driver of the Hyundai Santa Fe that crashed into Bullock was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"There was no slowing down, he didn't hit the brakes, nothing; he just drove straight into me...All he said was he didn't see my lights on," Bullock explained.
Police will charge the 24-year-old Dodge driver who started the chain reaction crash with failure to use reasonable care.
"I just asked him, I said, 'Hey man, did you just not see me?' All he told me was that he didn't see me, which told me that he was probably distracted with a phone. He was a young guy," Bullock said.
News 2's Andy Cordan asked the security officer if he had a message to motorists. Bullock offered the following response:
Definitely they need to be just more aware. I understand technology is a great thing, but for some reason, people still continue to hold phones in their hands and things like that.
I was lucky that I didn't get more severely hurt, but especially with lights flashing at 4:30 in the morning when it's dark outside, it's very visible, and for it not to be seen is definitely a cause for concern. I just truly believe that people just need to be way more attentive and slow down.
Everybody only has one life. There's no need to rush through it.
Not only do you have to worry about how you drive, you need to worry about how other people drive, as well.
Neither Bullock nor the 78-year-old Hyundai driver who smashed into him were cited for last week's incident. However, Bullock -- who didn't go to the hospital -- said he suffered fractured ribs, a concussion, and major bruising to his hips and knee.
Jack Byrd, the CEO of Solaren Risk Management, told News 2 that five of his agency's marked vehicles have been destroyed in 2024, injuring employees, because of carelessness or inattentive driving on the part of other motorists.
"My message is really simple: everyone plays a part in work zone safety," Byrd said. "Everyone wants to go home, everyone has a family, everyone has people that they love and things that they care about, and going to work, they shouldn't be in fear for that."
News 2 checked on work zone safety with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which supplied these figures:
- Nashville district: 665 work zone crashes reported year-to-date in 2024
- Eight in 10 work zone crashes happen in urban areas
- Three in five fatal work zone crashes involve drugs or alcohol
- One in four work zone crashes result in possible/suspected injuries
- One in 12 work zone crashes involve a distracted driver
- Statewide: 2,182 work zone crashes reported year-to-date in 2024