The father of an East Tennessee teen killed in a car crash testified before a state House committee leveling tearful criticism at the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Steven Eimers says the agency’s failure to remove what they knew were faulty guardrails resulted in his daughter’s death. He says response by the department’s spokesperson has been emotionally tone deaf.
“Just last week BJ Doughty told the Knoxville News Sentinel that these end terminals were not pillows,” Eimers said before raising his voice to add, “Ms. Doughty, we never expected pillows! But we didn’t expect spears either.”
The accident report shows an X-Lite model guardrail impaled Hannah Eimers car, killing her instantly. The same model has been linked to three other fatalities in Tennessee in the last year.
Eimers related what he was told by the mother of another crash victim, Lauren Beutell.
“Last night (she) passed by the site of her daughter’s accident and TDOT replaced the deadly X-Lite device that killed her daughter with another deadly X-Lite,” Eimers ended the exchange by exclaiming “How could that happen? Why is it still on the road?”
TDOT has promised to replace all of the units in the state by this summer.
Eimers also asked for a complete review of TDOT’s performance and culture citing, what he calls, “systemic issues.” He specifically asked for the Deputy Governor to oversee the effort, as Jim Henry did when overhauling the department of Children’s services.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM