Tractor Trailer Strikes Utility Truck, Worker Injured

A worker suffered non-life-threatening injuries when a tractor trailer struck the basket of the utility truck from which he was working on Frederick Road on Friday morning, a county police spokeswoman said.

County fire and rescue units responded to a call of a pedestrian struck about 10:41 a.m. Reports that the man was stuck by a vehicle were inaccurate, said Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a county police spokeswoman.

The man was working from a “cherry picker” truck parked in the left turn lane of northbound Frederick Road at King Farm Boulevard. The truck’s basket was hanging over the southbound lanes so that the work crew could work on traffic signals, Innocenti said.

There were cones around the truck in the turn lane, but no indication of a work zone in the southbound lanes, she said.

The top of the tractor trailer, which was traveling southbound on Frederick Road, clipped the bucket, Innocenti said. The worker was wearing a safety harness, which prevented him from falling into the roadway, she said.

The man was taken by ambulance to in Bethesda.

About noon on Friday the utility truck remained parked in the left turn lane at northbound Frederck Road and King Farm Boulevard. Traffic was getting by in the two right lanes.

The truck bore the name of Elkridge-based . A man who answered the telephone at the company said he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

County police have completed their investigation, Innocenti said. No charges are planned.

The tractor trailer driver remained on the scene and "obeyed all traffic laws," she said. "There was nothing to indicate to the tractor trailer driver that he should not be in that lane.”

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been notified because the incident occurred on a job site, she said.