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Thomas F. Carter

62

Thomas F. Carter

10/3/1934 - 5/2/2002

INDOT worker killed on I-65

An Indiana Department of Transportation employee killed Thursday in a construction accident was “a super-nice guy,” the area engineer in construction said Friday morning.

The area engineer in construction said he had known the employee, Thomas F. Carter, for 40 years. Carter was a certified technician assigned to the Seymour District Construction Office. Carter lived at Scottsburg.

“A lot of people here knew him,” the area engineer said this morning from the district office in Seymour. He added that INDOT had arranged for a counselor to come to a project office to talk to Carter’s fellow employees.

“This is the first time that I’ve lost an employee,” he said, “plus a very, very good friend.”

The area engineer described Carter as “an everyday good guy who would do his job. Give Tom the information he needed, and he did the work.”

According to information provided by INDOT, Carter was struck by a backing subcontractor’s construction vehicle at a work site on Interstate 65 in Clark County. The accident reportedly occurred in the off-travel area of I-65 in the construction work zone north of Ind. 131.

Carter was at the job site to perform contract inspection duties as part of the I-65 reconstruction project known as Revive-65.

He first joined INDOT in 1961 as an engineering assistant in the Seymour District Construction Office, leaving in 1976. He had rejoined INDOT in February.

The area engineer said that the accident is being investigated by the Indiana State Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Source: The Seymour Tribune 5/3/2002

I-65 project accident kills Indiana highway inspector

A state highway construction inspector was killed Thursday in a work area alongside Interstate 65 in Clark County (Ind.) when a pickup truck backed over him, officials said. A state highway construction inspector was killed Thursday in a work area alongside Interstate 65 in Clark County (Ind.) when a pickup truck backed over him, officials said.

Thomas F. Carter, 67, of Scottsburg, was taken to Clark Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the Indiana State Police.

The accident occurred about 9 a.m. alongside the interstate's northbound lanes, about a half mile north of the Ind. 131 interchange.

A state police spokesman said Carter's death is still under investigation but no charges are expected.

The pickup truck's back-up warning signal was tested and is working, the state police spokesman said.

He said it may be that the heavy equipment at the site was making so much noise that Carter didn't hear the warning signal.

The truck, a 1999 Ford F-350 pickup, was driven by a driver of Zanesville, Ohio, and is owned by a subcontractor working on the interstate project.

A carpenter foreman, who was working near the accident site, said he didn't realize there was a problem until he heard a siren in the construction area.

From the overpass on which he was working, the foreman said he saw about half a dozen firefighters and police officers working to revive Carter.

Carter lived on North Third Street in Scottsburg, Ind., with his wife, Shirley. He was a certified technician with Transportation Department's Seymour district construction office.

He had worked for the agency from 1961 to 1976 as an engineering assistant, before taking a job in the private sector. He was rehired by the state agency in February as a certified technician to inspect highway construction. He had been working regularly at the I-65 site in Clarksville, several workers said.

A Transportation Department spokesman said Carter is the first agency employee killed during the I-65 project. Since 1969, 62 agency employees have died on the job, the agency said.

Source: The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky 5/3/2002

Man killed while working on I-65

A 67-year-old construction worker was killed Thursday while working on Interstate 65 road improvements outside of Clarksville when a pickup truck backed over him about 9 a.m., according to investigators.

Thomas F. Carter, of Scottsburg, died at Clark Memorial Hospital following the accident, which occurred on the east side of Interstate 65 just north of exit 4.

According to the Indiana State Police, Carter was walking north behind a utility truck which had started backing up. A state police spokesman said that the driver of the truck failed to see Carter as he was backing up. No charges are expected to be filed in the accident, according to the spokesman. “I think this is about as close as you can get to being simply a tragic accident”, he said.

The area in which the accident occurred is separated from the travel portion of I-65 by concrete barriers. The truck driver is a contract worker which is working on the job.

According to the Indiana Department of Transportation, Carter was on site Thursday morning performing contract inspection duties on the project. He first joined INDOT in 1961 as an engineering assistant in the Seymour District Construction Office. Carter left the department in 1976 to pursue private sector opportunities, but he rejoined the department last February. He is the 62nd INDOT employee killed on the job since 1969.

“We are all deeply saddened by Tom’s death and offer our thoughts and prayers to his family at this tragic time,” said the INDOT Commissioner in a release. “This accident serves as a tragic reminder that every day many of our employees and contractors risk their health and lives in the performance of their duties building and maintaining the state transportation system.”

Source: The Evening News, Jeffersonville, IN 5/3/2002