This past Saturday, a collision between a semi truck and a Ford Explorer left three people seriously injured and one dead.
The accident took place near Owensboro, Kentucky, around 2:45 p.m., on the bypass ramp to Highway 54. Traffic on the ramp and highway were shut down for nearly four hours due to the severity of the crash and its aftermath. According to police, traffic wasn’t open for normal operation until about 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The Owensboro police department public information office says the semi turned left and came across the path of the Explorer, resulting in the crash. It seems that the Explorer may have run the red light as the truck was turning left.
Passenger Celvin Lopez was in the front passenger seat of the car, and was killed in the accident. The other occupants of the explorer, Angel Augusto and Teresa Cruz Augusto, were taken to nearby medical facilities for treatment of their injuries following the impact. The driver of the semi truck, Louis Love of Corbin, Kentucky, also was taken to a medical center for treatment of injuries he received.
The severity of the crash illustrates many of the consequences of collisions with semi trucks. An Explorer SUV is a reasonably large vehicle, yet the passenger of the car was killed outright in the collision. All the other passengers were injured as well, as was the driver of the semi truck. Further, four hours is a very long time for traffic to be shut down, and would have obviously caused significant backup in the traffic pattern.
Semis are large, dangerous vehicles to share the road with. Drivers must, of course, exercise caution when operating vehicles around semi trucks, and it is never advisable to run a red light. However, it is very much on the drivers of semi trucks to choose to operate safely and be aware of their surroundings.
