Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews led a funeral procession today in Christian County for one of their own who died clearing roads during last week’s snowstorm.
KYTC employee Chris Adams, aged 44, died early Saturday after his truck slid off Highway KY115 while clearing snow.
Around 5:50am, Adams called into his supervisor for help, but when other crews arrived to pull him out, Adams was found slumped over his seat and unresponsive.
The Christian County Coroner’s Office later indicated he died of a cardiac event.
The 16-year transportation cabinet employee had been on the clock since about midnight. During a break overnight he interacted with other employees and appeared to be in good spirits.
When KYTC personnel arrived at the site the driver side window on the truck was partially down and the truck was not running. When parked, KYTC trucks have a safety and fuel-saving feature programmed to automatically shut off the engine after about 6 to 8 minutes at idle without any driver activity.
On Monday, Cabinet safety inspectors and mechanics carefully examined the truck Adams was driving in an attempt to determine if an operational issue might have contributed to the incident. They found no safety issues with the vehicle.
At his funeral today, fellow workers honored Adams by leading the procession with a snow plow truck and wearing their uniforms and high-visibility clothing as tribute.
