Woman nearly killed wants NCDOT to keep drivers safe in I-77 construction zone

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By Mark Barber

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A Statesville woman has to use a wheelchair and she's still going through intense rehab two months after she was nearly killed in the I-77 toll zone.

"I pretty much had a big metal cage that held all my bones together," Nastasha Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt has been through eight surgeries in two months.

"I would not wish this on my worst enemy,” she said. “To have to sit this in a bed and not be able to work or have a machine breathe for you for two weeks or have plates in every aspect of your body, I’m like bionic woman right now.”

She was behind the wheel of an SUV when a worker in the I-77 toll-lane construction zone pulled out in front of her.

(WEB EXTRA: Woman wants more safety for drivers in I-77 toll-zone construction)

"He just drove out, didn't look and I hit him going 65 miles per hour," she said.

Reinhardt said the trauma was so severe. it triggered strokes that affect her ability to move the right side of her body.

Channel 9 asked North Carolina Department of Transportation officials what they are doing to keep drivers safe. They said they have added flaggers in construction zones to cut down on all the work vehicles entering the travel lanes.

NCDOT officials said their changes also include the extension of construction entrances and new, flashing signs that alert drivers about merging construction trucks.

Sugar Creek Construction has removed their worker who caused the crash.

Reinhardt said NCDOT's improvements won't protect drivers unless construction workers are also held to a higher standard.

"It's like our lives don't matter because they're building a toll lane," Reinhardt said.

While Reinhardt said she lost track of all her broken bones, the crash hasn't broken her spirit.

She said she hopes her doctor will let her out of the physical therapy unit after he checks out her improvements during her next appointment in August.

The construction worker who troopers say caused the crash, Mark Gill, has been charged. He's going to be in court next week.

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