Nashville, TN — February 2, 2025, Derek McIntosh was killed in a truck accident at about 2:45 on Interstate 24 near the Harding Place exit.

Authorities said a Harley Davidson FLT motorcycle was trying to merge onto eastbound I-24 from Harding Place when it crashed into the side of a semi-truck.

Motorcyclist Derek McIntosh, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.

No other injuries were reported.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

Crashes between motorcycles and semi-trucks often leave more questions than answers, and this one is no exception. The key issue here is what led to the motorcycle striking the side of the truck? People may assume the motorcyclist misjudged the merge, but experience tells me that’s not always the case.

One critical factor is how the truck was positioned. Merging onto a highway can be tricky under normal circumstances, but if the truck was already in the right lane, was it traveling at a safe speed? Did the driver see the motorcycle approaching? Trucks have large blind spots, especially along the right side, and it’s possible the driver never saw the motorcycle at all. If that’s the case, it raises questions about whether the trucker was checking their mirrors properly or using technology like blind-spot detection, which many modern trucks have.

Another issue is whether road design contributed to the crash. Some highway entrance ramps don’t give merging vehicles enough space to reach highway speed before they have to join traffic. If the merge lane was too short, it might have forced the motorcyclist into a tight situation with no good options. Investigators should look at whether this stretch of road has been the site of similar crashes in the past.

Speed is also something that needs to be examined, for both vehicles. Was the truck going faster than the flow of traffic in the right lane? Was the motorcyclist accelerating quickly to merge, or did something cause them to lose control? Without dashcam footage, witness statements or ECM data from the truck, there’s no way to know for sure.

At this stage, there’s not enough information to say who, if anyone, was at fault. But what I do know is that crashes like this deserve a full investigation. If authorities only focus on what happened at the moment of impact, they may miss the larger factors that made this crash inevitable.