Arkansas man killed when unloaded log truck skids into oncoming traffic, hits pickup on U.S. 70

The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn HEAD-ON: A log truck and a 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck sit in the westbound lane of the 6000 block of Highway 70 west following a nearly head-on collision around noon Thursday.
The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn HEAD-ON: A log truck and a 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck sit in the westbound lane of the 6000 block of Highway 70 west following a nearly head-on collision around noon Thursday.

An 85-year-old Pearcy man died Thursday when an unloaded log truck skidded into oncoming traffic and hit the front of his pickup on U.S. 70, authorities said.

It happened just before noon in the 6500 block of the highway, which is near the Garland County-Hot Spring County line.

Arkansas State Police say the unloaded 1996 Freightliner was headed east on the highway when a vehicle ahead of it slowed and it "abruptly braked." That sent the truck into a skid, and it traveled into the westbound lanes, the report said.

The truck then struck the front driver's side of a westbound 2008 Chevy pickup driven by Harvey Joe Bailey, the report said.

Crews had to free Bailey from the damaged vehicle, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported, and he was reportedly then airlifted to a Hot Springs hospital. He was pronounced dead there.

The driver of the log truck, 57-year-old Chris Avington of Arkadelphia, was not reported hurt.

Conditions at the time were said to be clear and dry. The crash blocked both directions of the highway for more than an hour.

There have been at least 275 deaths in traffic crashes on Arkansas roads so far this year, according to preliminary figures.

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The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn AIRLIFT: LifeNet Air lifts off with the driver of a Chevrolet pickup truck that was involved in a nearly head-on collision with a log truck in the 6000 block of Highway 70 west around noon Thursday.

The Hot Springs Sentinel-Record contributed to this report.

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