Quick Facts
Where: Fatal collision was reported on County Road 885 in Lee County, near Saltillo, Mississippi.
What Happened: Motorcyclist was hit by a dump truck that turned across traffic.
Participants:
- Justin Sandlin was the motorcyclist.
- Unidentified individual was the driver of the dump truck.
Reported Injuries/Fatalities
- Justin Sandlin, 31, was killed.
Details
On Monday, October 5th, 2020, around 1:00 in the afternoon, 31-year-old Justin Sandlin was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a dump truck in or near Saltillo, Mississippi.
At this time, officers have indicated that Sandlin was riding his motorcycle in the northbound lanes of County Road 885 when a southbound dump truck turned across traffic and struck Sandlin’s motorcycle. Sandlin was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Police officers have said that the motorcyclist was allegedly travelling at a high rate of speed at the time of the accident, but this raises a number of questions. Firstly, given that the dump truck and Sandlin were headed opposite directions, how could the dump truck driver have known the speed of the motorcycle? There are thirty-year traffic enforcement officers that cannot discern the speed of a vehicle when it is headed toward them, hence the use of sophisticated radar. Secondly, given the afternoon hour when the accident transpired, how is it that the truck driver didn’t see a motorcyclist traveling the opposite direction?
Motorcycles are small objects in relationship to other vehicles on the road, and as a result, can appear to be traveling faster than other, larger vehicles traveling at the exact same speed.
A lot of motorcyclists have been unfairly blamed for accidents just based on these factors alone, is this what happened here?