By Brian Livingston / staff writer
The investigation into the Tuesday traffic accident that seriously injured Bob Skelding and killed two of his four-horse team is continuing according to authorities with the Mississippi Highway Patrol's Troop H in Meridian.
Skelding, 49, of Deerfield, N.H., is receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of Rush Foundation Hospital after suffering unspecified injuries in the Tuesday accident that occurred at the Noxubee-Kemper County line. An 18-wheeler impacted the homemade 7,000-pound RV as Skelding was heading down Highway 45 South.
Because this stretch of Highway 45 had no paved shoulder, Skelding was forced to navigate his RV into the right lane of the highway.
Michael Cain, an accident reconstructionist with the Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop H in Meridian, said Thursday afternoon the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation but added, "At this time it does not appear excessive speed by the 18-wheeler nor the geography of the landscape in the area adversely contributed to this accident."
At the time of the collision, the RV was traveling about 5 mph and the truck was traveling between 65 and 70 mph, according to the MHP. If the 18-wheeler was traveling 70 mph, then the big rig could have covered 103 feet in one second.
Some people who have followed this accident have wondered if Skelding was within state traffic laws in operating a horse drawn wagon on a highway.
"People on bicycles, farm tractors and even a horse drawn wagon have a right to travel on state highways as long as they display the correct traffic safety aids," said MHP Troop H commander Capt. Billy Mays. "If he had been on an interstate that would've been different but on a state highway, and if he was displaying a triangular slow moving vehicle sign, then he was legal."
