Shirley Yeary Killed in Collision With Semi-truck at the Intersection of the AA Highway and KY 709 in Alexandria, Kentucky

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — Police have released the name of the driver who died in a crash involving a tractor-trailer at the intersection of the AA Highway and KY 709 on Monday morning.

According to reports, the tractor-trailer is believed to have entered the intersection against a red light and struck the car.

The driver of the car, 62-year-old Shirley Yeary, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Failure to Stop: Holding drivers and companies accountable after fatal crashes

Collisions like this cause great sadness and great anger. Traffic lights are there for a reason: to prevent fatal accidents. Ms. Yeary should be alive today, but instead, her family is left mourning and trying to make sense of how they lost their loved one in an instant. All this tragedy because of a truck driver who ran a red light.

In the blur that follows a crash like this, families are forced into impossible situations.

In the middle of grief and shock, the family is faced with urgent financial and funeral decisions. They are still struggling to catch their breath while the trucking company and its insurer begin working to limit their liability, pressuring them to move on before they’ve even had time to process what happened.

But there must be answers and accountability. Answers to questions like: What caused the semi-truck to disregard a stop sign? Did the driver have a history of unsafe driving? Were there warning signs the company ignored? How often was this truck inspected to ensure it was free of brake or mechanical problems that could lead to a crash?

The answers to those questions will often reveal more than one failure. They may point to problems in training, maintenance, or oversight—problems that should have been corrected long before anyone was fatally hurt. We know this from decades of experience handling similar cases, helping others walk the same difficult path as this family here.

In one case we handled in South Carolina, a commercial truck driver ran a stop sign at a busy intersection, crashing into another vehicle and leaving a family forever changed. That crash, like so many others, was entirely preventable. The driver failed to yield the right of way and ignored fundamental traffic laws. The trucking company, in turn, failed to properly hire, train, and supervise its driver, entrusting a massive commercial vehicle to someone unfit to operate it safely.

We pursued justice for that family to help bring accountability and to make sure no other family suffers the same preventable loss.

The surviving family of Ms. Yeary deserves the same level of accountability from those whose choices caused this tragedy. We hope they find the truth and the justice they deserve.

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The Ammons Law Firm represents clients nationwide in auto and truck accidents that result in serious injury or death.

Disclaimer: This post is not legal advice. Information contained in this blog was compiled from third-party sources or is the opinion of the author.