Trooper Hurt After U.S. 29 Stop Turns Into Crash in Guilford County

A North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper was hurt Friday afternoon after a speeding Ford truck failed to yield during a traffic stop on U.S. 29 in Guilford County, and the patrol car briefly caught fire after the collision.

The crash happened around 3:35 p.m. on April 10, after Trooper Whitt Efird said the trooper spotted the truck traveling at a high rate of speed and activated the car’s lights and siren. Officials said the driver kept going, and the two vehicles collided on the highway.

The trooper was taken to a medical center with minor injuries and later released. The Ford driver was also taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No charges had been filed in the case at the time of publication, and the crash remained under investigation.

The incident landed in Troop D’s Guilford County district, which is based in Greensboro. That district covers one of the county’s busiest enforcement corridors, where state troopers regularly work a highway system that carries commuter traffic, freight and through-travel between Guilford County and points south and east.

U.S. 29 is also in the middle of major construction and traffic changes in Guilford County. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has warned drivers to prepare for extended lane closures on U.S. 29 South as part of an interchange improvement project, including work near South Main Street in High Point. NCDOT says that project includes replacing a 1950s-era bridge and widening South Main Street.

State transportation planners also say they want to upgrade the U.S. 29 corridor to interstate standards from north of I-785 in Guilford County to U.S. 158/NC 14 in Rockingham County. For drivers, that means a stretch already shaped by lane shifts, closures and heavy traffic is also one where a routine stop can turn dangerous in an instant.