People who live in Kentucky often hear about the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Public education campaigns are often launched during key holiday times like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Additional checkpoints and efforts are commonly held at other times as well. Sadly, there remain some people who refuse to make safe operation of a vehicle the priority it deserves to be.
The Lexington Herald Leader recently ran a report about a fatal accident that happened on a Wednesday night along a stretch of Interstate 75 near the intersecting ramp of Interstate 64. The crash was caused by a drunk driver who had been convicted of driving under the influence offenses four different times between 2003 and 2011. In the crash on I-75, it has been noted that the woman was also driving without a license.
Officers had apparently noticed the woman’s pickup truck operating erratically and speeding so they attempted to stop the vehicle. The woman instead tried to get away from the police. In her effort to flee the authorities, she made a U-turn and began driving southbound on the northbound side of the interstate. She hit two other vehicles head-on. The driver and passenger in one of those vehicles both died. The driver of the second vehicle was injured.
In the drunk woman’s truck, one passenger experienced life-threatening injuries and a second passenger – her sister – died. The woman’s prior DUI convictions were in Pike and Shelby Counties.