A multi-vehicle chain-reaction crash early yesterday morning snarled traffic along I-40 Eastbound in Roane County for much of the morning and backed up traffic for miles. Traffic had slowed near mile marker 355, due to a prior accident, when a 2005 Ford Taurus driven by 29-year-old Wesley W. Lawson of Harriman slammed into the rear of a 2010 Honda Civic driven by 51-year-old Tammy Skidmore of Rockwood, sending it into the back of a Toyota Tundra driven by 57-year-old George S. Eisenhower of Seymour, Tennessee. His vehicle was pushed into the rear of a 2004 Chevy Aveo driven by 54-year-old Vickie H. Lawson of Harriman. Wesley Lawson’s vehicle came to what was described by officials as “an uncontrolled rest” into the rear of an unoccupied 1988 GMC Sierra, which was parked on the right shoulder at the time of the crash – the driver of that vehicle had pulled onto the shoulder to check on a motorist involved in an earlier crash. Tammy Skidmore was transported to UT Medical Center for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. All drivers were wearing seatbelts at the time of impact. Wesley Lawson was charged with driving on a suspended license.

Then, a little over an hour later, the driver of a 2016 Freightliner was charged with failure to exercise due care in connection with an accident near mile marker 350, also on I-40 Eastbound in Roane County. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, just after 7 a.m. local time, 21-year-old Argen Ysaev of Chicago, Illinois, was changing lanes when he struck a Honda Civic driven by 59-year-old Faith Boohers of Harriman. Both vehicles came to a controlled rest along the right shoulder. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts and neither driver was injured.