A fiery crash involving two big rigs and seven other passenger vehicles left two sisters in Kentucky dead and seven others injured.

The Kentucky State Police reported that the Christian County Sheriff’s Office was responding to a fender bender in the westbound lanes of I-24 near mile marker 79. That accident had caused the westbound lanes to close and caused a one mile backup.

A Tennessee tractor trailer driver approached the stopped traffic and could not stop. The tractor trailer slammed into the rear of an F-150 that was occupied by two sisters from Iowa. Both were killed in the crash.

The impact of that accident caused the big rig to hit another tractor trailer. That ruck then swerved into the westbound lanes and hit a 2014 Chevrolet and also a Honda and Kia. Those vehicle occupants were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Our View

It is tragic that this tractor trailer driver in Kentucky was not able to stop for whatever reason and caused this fatal truck crash.

We do not know for certain what caused this fatal truck crash, but the article suggests the truck driver was unable to stop. It could be that he was distracted by a cell phone or fell asleep. But another common cause of these rear end truck crashes on the highway is brake failure. When brake failure is suspected on a truck, there are many possible reasons for it. Defective brakes or brake parts are possible. Another possibility is poor maintenance of the brakes. Truck drivers should conduct regular inspections of their brakes to ensure the rig is safe to drive.

Another common reason for brake failure is the illegal practice of brake depowering. This is basically shutting off the power to the front brakes on the truck and using the rear brakes and downshifting to stop the rig. Many drivers depower the front brakes to save money; trucks with fully operating front brakes require brake repair and replacement more often. But the act of depowering also can put a bigger stress on the other brakes and can lead to brake failure.

If it turns out the truck driver or company was negligent in this Kentucky crash, the families of the deceased could be entitled to financial compensation in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Our Virginia wrongful death attorneys successfully represented the family in a $2.25 million settlement where a truck driver sideswiped and killed our truck driver client. We proved that the truck driver had a medical condition that he knew about or should have known about that contributed to the crash. That truck driver actually died from his medical condition soon after the accident, so a major part of winning this case was obtaining that driver’s medical records and showing the health condition that affected his ability to drive.