ATV Deaths in Kentucky

7:35 pm would have been about twenty minutes past sundown. For an 18-year old to run up on them that close without seeing them, my guess is that the ATV's were either operating without working lights, or at least that the taillights were inoperative or covered with mud or obstructed by something on the luggage racks.

I know, they aren't street vehicles and all that, but I also know that as long as they are around, people will run a few miles down the road with them rather than load them onto a trailer and try to find a place to park truck and trailer while they use them. I can't blame the riders too much for doing that, even if the law says different. But for cryin' out loud, make sure you have working lights, with nothing covering them, if you expect to return from a trip down the highway on one after dusk! If not, then have someone come to the riding spot with a car and drive behind you to get you back without being run over.

This was a terrible thing to happen for all concerned. Besides the ATV riders and their families, I feel sorry for young driver of the truck who hit them. Here's an eighteen-year-old kid who may not have done anything wrong, comes around a turn and by the time he notices the dark lumps in the road ahead and realizes they're people on ATV's, he's already killing them! That time of evening it's even harder to spot stuff in the road than it is after it's fully dark and the headlights show stuff better.

The only good that comes from an accident like this is when someone takes the lesson that it gives us and uses that lesson to prevent it from happening somewhere else.