Many questions remain surrounding what happened on Interstate 70 over the weekend before and after a fatal truck and bicycle accident occurred early Saturday. Authorities say that a truck driver called authorities to report having allegedly hit something along the interstate–law enforcement says that the trucker reported hitting a deer.

Apparently, no investigation into the interstate accident was made until sometime much later in the day Saturday. Later that morning, other calls began pouring in to law enforcement reporting blood and clothing on the interstate. Police eventually responded to the area and found the body of a man near the Lake of the Woods exit along I-70. The man was dead and a bicycle was found nearby his body.

After police found the body of the 36-year-old Columbia, Missouri, man, investigators closed down lanes of traffic on westbound I-70 to try to determine what may have happened. Reports of a rollover accident in the same area during the investigation caused more problems. Details about that rollover were not reported in the same news article. But, the second accident posed new problems for investigators. Police are still trying to determine if all of the calls early Saturday were related to the fatal accident.

Our systems of information and investigation serve many important purposes. As a culture, knowing about accidents is more than mere rubber-necking as media accounts can help improve safety into the future. A law enforcement probe into a wreck also may serve this type of purpose. But, a government (or an additional independent individual probe) can provide the families of an accident victim with vital information about what may have been involved in causing the tragedy

Source: ABC 17, ” Family mourns man hit and killed on I-70,” Dana Clemens, Oct. 29, 2013