Man dies in car accident

A Giles County man died after his vehicle traveled down an embankment and hit a large boulder, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol preliminary report.

Bobby Louis Burleson, 60, of Summertown, was killed about 5:50 a.m. Thursday off State Highway 166 in Pulaski. Burleson’s 2003, two-door Jeep Wrangler was traveling south on Highway 166 when it veered off the road, according to the report.

The vehicle “traveled off the right side of the roadway, crossed a ditch through a fence and (went) off the embankment, where it struck a large boulder and overturned,” the report stated.

The Jeep came to rest on its right side, according to the report.

The driver was not wearing a seatbelt. The investigating officer reported that wearing one would have made a difference in the outcome of the wreck.

Not wearing a safety belt also proved fatal in another recent wreck.

Corey L. Hedgecoth, 45, of Pulaski, was killed in the wreck about 8:15 p.m. March 22 on Fall River Road in the Minor Hill community in Giles County, according to a THP report.

Hedgecoth’s 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was traveling east on the road. The driver attempted to negotiate a curve and ran off of the left side of the roadway, according to the report. The vehicle traveled down a ditch and hit a tree, causing the truck to overturn.

In 2014, unrestrained motorists accounted for 50 percent of vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes, THP spokeswoman Dalya Qualls said in an email. Wearing a seat belt is the single-most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries on our roadways, she said in the email.

“We can’t stress the importance of seatbelt usage enough,” Qualls wrote. “Failure to wear a seatbelt contributes to more traffic fatalities than any other traffic-safety related behavior.”