Wilkes County’s second motor vehicle fatality of 2022 occurred around noon Jan. 5 when a 2018 Ford Escape and a 2016 Volvo tractor-trailer collided head-on on Red White and Blue Road in the Roaring River community.
Donald Richard Fawlkes, 59, of Kernersville, who was driving the Ford, died at the scene, said Master Sgt. Jeffrey Swagger of the N.C. Highway Patrol.
Swagger said the Ford was southbound on Red, White and Blue Road when it crossed the centerline and collided head-on with the northbound tractor-trailer, driven by Michael Joseph Caughman, 32, of Willow Springs.
Wilkes Emergency Medical Services transported Caughman to Wilkes Medical Center in North Wilkesboro. Swagger said his injuries were non-life-threatening. JHJ Trucking LLC was written on sides of the cab of the tractor-trailer.
The impact knocked the Ford partly off the north side of the road and left it facing north. The tractor-trailer remained in the northbound lane, facing north. Both vehicles were heavily damaged.
Swagger said the initial investigation didn’t indicate alcohol impairment as a contributing factor. He said Fawlkes was restrained by a seatbelt. There were no other people in either vehicle. The Highway Patrol responded to the wreck about 12:05 p.m.
The wreck occurred about midway on four-mile-long Red, White and Blue Road, which runs between N.C. 268 East on the north and U.S. 421 East on the south. It was about a half mile south of the Ruth Linney Road intersection.
Traffic was blocked on Red, White and Blue Road for several hours, with the Knotville Fire Department blocking vehicles at the four-way intersection of Old 60 and Red, White and Blue Road and the Broadway Fire Department handling the south end at the Ranse Staley Road intersection.
The wreck occurred about midway on four-mile-long Red, White and Blue Road, which runs between N.C. 268 East on the north and U.S. 421 East on the south. It was about a half mile south of the Ruth Linney Road intersection.
Traffic was blocked on Red, White and Blue Road for several hours, with the Knotville Fire Department blocking vehicles at the four-way intersection of Old 60 and Red, White and Blue Road and the Broadway Fire Department handling the south end at the Ranse Staley Road intersection.