Fiery chain collision in Iowa kills St. Charles man, injures wife

A man from St. Charles was killed and his wife was injured when they were hit from behind by a tractor trailer which did not slow for traffic ahead as they approached a construction zone in Iowa.  The truck pushed the couple's car into a van ahead of them which was in turn pushed into yet another truck ahead which had slowed for the construction work.  At least some of the vehicles burst into flames.

This feels like a story I have read before  -- everyone slows for conditions ahead except for one truck driver who plows into the cars ahead, resulting in a chain collision.  These kinds of truck accidents are fairly inexcusable - truck drivers are professionals who are well trained to inspect and operate their vehicles.  They sit up high, so there should be no obstruction to their view of conditions ahead.  Truck accidents like this really should never happen, but do with alarming frequency.

I suspect that the final investigation of this truck accident will reveal one or more of the following factors: speeding and inattention by the truck driver, driver fatigue and/or falsification of log books by the truck driver, poor training of the truck driver, and/or inadequate maintenance of the tractor trailer.