Four people are dead, including two teenagers, after two vehicles crashed on Highway 411 in Loudon County on Saturday night.
It happened at the intersection near Cope Road.
According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, one driver survived and is in critical condition at UT Medical Center.
Investigators say a van was heading north on Highway 411 and crossed the center turn lane, going into the southbound lane and hitting a car head on.
“Saturday night was just totally horrible,” said Loudon County Sheriff Tim Guider.
Highway 411 has seen some other fatal accidents in recent years. In January, three people died in a crash in Blount County after a pickup truck hit a car head on. Days later, in February, another head on crash killed a man in Loudon County. The driver of the oncoming car was charged with a DUI. In April 2016, a Seymour man died in a head on crash. And a crash in May 2015 killed six people in Blount County.
Supporters of an online petition want to build a concrete barrier down the center of the highway. 10News reached out to the petition’s author, but have not yet heard back.
TDOT said it's aware of the fatal crahes along Highway 411, but can't point to a cause as to why the crossover accidents happen. TDOT said the roadway has "very good geometry." TDOT says speed or human factors or behavior might be contributors.
TDOT said it's working on a safety project for Highway 411 spanning Blount, Loudon and Monroe Counties. It includes enhancing signage and markings, as well as resurfacing. TDOT said the project will cost $898,833.10., and it expects to finish the project at the end of September.
Guider, the Loudon County Sheriff, can’t point to one specific cause for the crashes either.
“We’re not certain why it’s become a dangerous road, when to me it’s not built dangerously,” Guider said. “It seems to have adequate space, I mean you have the turn lanes, throughout, continuously. You have wide emergency lanes in both directions. The only thing I can think of is maybe because it is so straight people get heavier with their foot.”
Guider thinks maybe people speed or doze off along the roadway. But Highway 411 is watched under a close eye. Loudon, Blount, Monroe and several other law enforcement agencies have had three saturation patrols in the last three months focused specifically on Highway 411. They look for speeding, seatbelts and drunk driving. Loudon County gave out more than 120 citations during those patrols.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of man power over there in the last three months just doing preventative stuff,” Guider said.
Loudon County will saturate Highway 411 from 8 p.m. Friday to midnight.
THP could not respond about Highway 411 itself, but said drivers shouldn't speed or drive distracted, and always wear a seatbelt.