Trucker following his GPS winds up sliding down mountainside

Authorities in Greeneville, Tennessee, say that a truck driver ignored “no truck” signs and followed his GPS onto a mountain roadway that proved to be too treacherous for him to maneuver.

The incident happened on Tuesday, October 2, at around 7 a.m., according to the Greeneville Sun.

Authorities say that truck driver Fred Washington didn’t see the “No Truck Route” sign at the entrance of Greeneville Mountain Road and instead followed his GPS device onto the unpaved single lane roadway.

Washington made it four miles down the mountain road, but during a tight turn, his truck slipped on the wet mud on the shoulder of the roadway and overturned, tumbling down a steep embankment.

No serious injuries were reported.

Washington was charged with failure to obey a traffic control device.

It took hours to remove the truck from the embankment.

Greene County Emergency Management Agency Director Bill Brown says that the incident caused serious damage to the roadway, which was closed all day yesterday and will remain closed into today.