Jerome County, ID — September 30, 2024, a woman was killed due to a semi-truck accident at around 9:00 a.m. along North 100 East.
Authorities said that the crash happened north of Jerome near the intersection of North 100 E. and East 500 North.
According to officials, a 43-year-old woman was in a car going eastbound through the intersection as a semi-truck was going southbound. Authorities allege that the semi failed to stop for the stop sign, resulting in a collision with the woman’s car. The woman was killed as a result.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
It appears the semi-truck driver has been arrested for vehicular manslaughter. Generally speaking, it’s not common to see that so soon after a commercial truck wreck unless authorities feel very confident of their assessment. The fact they’ve reported serious charges here makes it seem pretty obvious the driver may have made a mistake. But things are rarely ever that simple. While a driver facing serious charges may seem like the end of the story, there is often an accomplice in fatal truck wrecks who slip through the cracks without further investigations: the truck driver’s employer.
Here’s why I say that. Employers can create working environments where serious mistakes are all but inevitable. For example, employers sometimes push drivers to meet unreasonable deadlines, causing them to drive recklessly, skip rest breaks, or take unnecessary risks. There was one case I had where safe drivers were ignored when it came time for new work because the reckless drivers were meeting unsafe and unrealistic expectations. Essentially, drivers had to choose between being safe or providing for their families. It would obviously lead to people getting hurt eventually, and that’s exactly what happened.
Furthermore, many companies have bad hiring and training practices. Companies may fail to properly train new drivers, putting them on the road with too little experience. Or, they may hire individuals with a history of unsafe driving, ignoring their sordid past because they’re just desperate to get trucks moving. This, too, is bound to result in catastrophe.
To be clear, there’s not enough information available right now to say what happened here, if the charges are warranted, or if any actors besides those involved in the crash itself are responsible. What I do know, though, is that across hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases, I’ve found families don’t just want some bad guy to blame. They don’t want an easy explanation. They want to know they’re getting the whole story, and they want to know that all parties responsible for their loss are being held appropriately accountable. If steps aren’t taken to find out both what happened here and why it happened, efforts to make things right for the victim’s loved ones could come up short.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us