The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety reports 813 traffic fatalities in 2023, a 9.2% increase from 744 deaths in motor vehicle accidents in Kentucky the previous year, according to federal statistics. That’s more than two deaths every day in 2023.
Some of the worst car accidents make headlines. Most are only familiar to the grieving families. The car accident attorneys at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer work to help Kentucky families move forward after the loss of loved ones in automobile accidents caused by others’ carelessness or disregard for safety. Below, we review the devastating impact of three tragic fatal crashes in Kentucky’s history in hopes of promoting safety awareness.
3 of the Worst Car Accident Stories in Kentucky’s History
Carrollton Bus Collision (1988)
In perhaps the most infamous highway accident in Kentucky history, a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 on May 14, 1988, collided with a school bus carrying a church youth group on their way home from an amusement park. The bus caught fire, and 27 people were killed, 24 of them children. The 34-year-old factory worker that hit the bus later admitted he had been drinking at a bar and a friend’s house.
It wasn’t the collision that made this a fatal accident. Instead, the bus’s right front suspension broke and punctured the fuel tank, igniting the fuel within it. Within four minutes, the entire bus was on fire, trapping 27 people onboard. The bus manufactuer was sued and held accountable for the injuries and deaths as a result of its unsafe design/construction of the bus.
In the aftermath, Kentucky began enforcing drunk driving laws more strictly and required school buses to have nine emergency exits — more than any other federal or state standard. Several family members of victims became active leaders of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Karolyn Nunnallee, whose 10-year-old daughter Patty died in the crash, eventually became national president of MADD.[CN1]
Prestonsburg Bus Crash (1958)
On a cold February morning following heavy rains and a thaw, a Floyd County school bus carrying 48 elementary and high school students on U.S. 23 near Prestonsburg struck the rear of a tow truck and plunged down an embankment and into a tributary of the Big Sandy River. The flooded river waters were “over the trees,” according to one account of the accident. The bus was quickly swept downstream and submerged.
Twenty-six children and the bus driver drowned, matching the number of fatalities in the Carrollton bus crash 30 years later. Twenty-two children escaped the bus.
It took more than 50 hours to find the bus and pull it from the river. Over 500 Kentucky National Guardsmen were activated during the 69-day search and recovery operation for the victims.[CN2]
Wrong-way Crash on Interstate 75 (2021)
The coroner’s report says the driver, who was heading the wrong way on Interstate 75 in Kentucky on June 6, 2021, had drugs and alcohol in her system when she struck a vehicle carrying five people. In addition to herself, the wrong-way driver killed a 30-year-old mother and four children aged 2 to 11 from Owentown.
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office said the wrong-way driver’s blood alcohol level was .205 — more than twice the legal limit when the accident occurred. She and one child died at the scene of the head-on collision; the others died at a local hospital.
What Were The Common Factors of These Accidents?
Two of these accidents were caused by drunk drivers. Two were bus accidents. Each was preventable.
At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, we can help you pick up the pieces after a fatal accident. We can help you demand money for hospital bills, funeral and burial costs, lost income, and your pain and suffering. An insurance settlement or court award can provide your family some financial stability after the preventable loss of a loved one. We can’t undo what has happened to your family, but we are proud to help Kentuckians seek what justice allows so they can move forward with their lives.
Call our law firm at (877) 809-5352 or fill out our online contact form for a free consultation with a Kentucky Courage personal injury lawyer.
