Officials said a dump truck lost its brakes and swerved to avoid a carpool lane near near Heritage Elementary School.
"He could not stop. He was swerving around and I know that everybody around me was as scared as I was," saidCathy Frazer, a parent who was stopped in the car pool backup.
The dump truck side-swiped a sport utility vehicle, before flipping and landing overturned along the side of the road next to a creek.
A mother and her two children who were in the SUV were transported to Raleigh Community Hospital.Officials said their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The driver, James Worley, was transported to WakeMed.
Damage was caused to the guardrail when the truck went airborne.State investigators are looking at truck's brakes.
"[We're checking] the movement of the brakes, the stopping distance, the measurements, the braking action on the truck. We'll also give out specifics on how many brakes on that vehicle were working," said a Highway Patrol trooper.
The state secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety said more roads, more drivers and more miles traveled have created a tough safety challenge for inspectors. Despite incidents like this one, collision rates due to failures, like brakes, are steady, or declining.
Worley drives for Darrel Chalk Trucking. State inspectors said the company has a clean safety record. He has not been charged, pending the outcome of the investigation.
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