Personal Injury Law

Commercial truck crash involving tractor-trailer and van kills 11 in Kentuck

By LaBovick Law

A tractor-trailer owned by Alabama trucking company, Hester Inc., was involved in a horrific crash  that killed 11 people in Kentucky. The driver of the commercial tractor-trailer, was carrying auto parts, when he crossed a highway median and slammed head on into a van filled with friends and small children en-route to a wedding. After the collision, the truck hit a rock wall and burst into flames, killing the driver.

The National Transportation Safety The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a six-person team to investigate Board dispatched a six-person team to investigate the Kentucky highway crash involving Hester Trucking, Inc.   According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Hester Inc., a privately owned company, had no fatal accidents and one injury accident in the 24 months before the Kentucky accident.

Hester Inc is an interstate carrier with 30 drivers and 25 trucks. Records show that in 2008, they drove a total of 2.3 million miles carrying general freight, meat, produce and beverages. According to Federal records, 19 of the interstate carrier's drivers were taken off the road for violations from 167 driver inspections. This rate of 11.4 percent is higher than the national rate of 6.6 percent.  Excessive driving hours, was the most common violation issued for Hester, Inc.  Driving too many hours in a row or not taking required breaks accounted for approximately 166 (one-fourth)  of the total violations for drivers.. 

Before crashing into the van, the tractor-trailer knocked down six cable barrier uprights and the four cables running through them. According to County officials, the cable barriers recently installed has helped prevent other crossover accidents. Mark Brown, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet stated the following:

"The cable barriers weren't designed to withstand a tractor-trailer. They have been very successful though in preventing crossover crashes where they are installed,'
 

Truck Crash Statistics for 2008, from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In 2008, there were 365,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks.   One percent  (3,733) of the truck related crashed had at least one fatality, and 18 percent (64,000) had at least one nonfatal injury.

 

• Single-vehicle crashes made up 20 percent of all fatal crashes, 17 percent of all injury crashes, and 30 percent of all property damage only crashes involving large trucks.
   
• Collision with a vehicle in transport was the first harmful event in 75 percent of fatal crashes involving large trucks.
   
• Thirty-three percent of all fatal crashes and 24 percent of all property damage only crashes involving large trucks occurred at night.
   
• The vast majority of fatal crashes (85 percent) and nonfatal crashes (87 percent) involving large trucks occurred on weekdays (Monday through Friday).
   
• Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of all fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred on rural roads, and just over one-fourth (26 percent) occurred on rural and urban Interstate highways.
   

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Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on April 10, 2010 (boomark / email).