Troopers: Slow driver caused wreck on I-40

State troopers charged a 65-year-old man they say was driving slowly on Interstate 40 in Sampson County, causing a wreck early Monday.

Posted 10:51 a.m. Feb 22, 2010 — Updated 10:51 a.m. Feb 22, 2010

FAISON, N.C. — State troopers charged a 65-year-old man they say was driving slowly on Interstate 40 in Sampson County, causing a wreck early Monday.

Troopers said that John Henry Watkins, of Garner, was driving a pickup truck at 10 mph in the left lane of I-40 East through Faison around 1 a.m. The driver of a Honda Accord driver saw Watkins' truck in the lane ahead of him. Both drivers tried to swerve into the right lane at the same time, troopers said. The vehicles collided, and Watkins' pickup ran off the road and overturned.

Both drivers are expected to be OK, troopers said.

Watkins was charged with impeding traffic and failure to comply with a driver's license restriction limiting him to driving in daytime hours.

Eastbound lanes of I-40 were shut down for a while after the wreck.

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