• June 08, 2022

Bedford County, VA -- June 7, 2022, 72-year-old pedestrian Curtis Martin was killed by a tractor-trailer on Route 460 in Bedford County.

Authorities say the incident happened around 3:50 a.m. on Route 460 near Candle Lane. Preliminary investigation suggests Martin was walking west in the roadway, wearing dark clothing, when he was fatally hit by a westbound 18-wheeler.

Martin suffered fatal injuries in the collision. No other injuries were reported and no charges are pending.

No further information is available at this time.

Commentary on Curtis Martin Accident on Rt 460 in Bedford County

Pedestrian accidents can be more complex than they seem. People may read about a pedestrian wearing dark clothes and walking in the lanes of an unlit freeway and assume there's little else to say, but just about any accident--including those with pedestrians--is more nuanced than that.

For instance, in an auto-pedestrian collision like the one above the law considers all its variables to determine how avoidable it was (or should have been). To find that out there are still questions to resolve: Why was the pedestrian in the road late at night? Where precisely was he--in the travel lane, near the fog line, on the shoulder? Where did he come from before walking there? How long was he on the road before the vehicle passed through? How visible was he? Were the truck's headlights on? Was the driver's attention fully on the road? Did other vehicles successfully avoid the victim before the truck came along? Could or should anything else have been done to avoid the collision or reduce its damage?

I'm not accusing anyone of wrongdoing here or saying I know more than police investigators. I'm just saying what I often do: Even if preliminary reports just paint a picture of someone in the road at a bad time, it's always best to carefully investigate all the possible factors in search of the whole truth. If there are other issues to consider, that will only be learned by finding all the details.