A truck driver was killed around midnight last night when his semi overturned, rolled down an embankment and caught fire, the Kansas City Star reports.
The tractor trailer was headed southbound on Interstate 435 in Kansas City. After rolling down the embankment, the semi stopped near Raytown Road which remained closed to rush hour traffic this morning so that crews could inspect a nearby bridge for structural damage.
The driver has not yet been identified and police are currently investigating the cause of the accident.
While it is not yet known what led to last night’s deadly accident, according to the federal government’s Large Truck Crash Causation Study, when a truck driver was at fault for causing a fatal crash, falling asleep at the wheel or suffering a heart attack caused 12 percent of the crashes. Inattention, distraction, and failure to keep a careful lookout were to blame for 29 percent of the crashes. Poor decision-making, such as driving too fast for the conditions, following too closely, performing an illegal driving maneuver or aggressive driving accounted for 38 percent of the accidents.
If you have been hurt or a loved one has been hurt or died as a result of a truck driver’s carelessness, contact Carey, Danis & Lowe Missouri/Illinois trucking-accident lawyers online or by calling 877-678-3400.
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