Kentucky is a busy state, with a number of commercial truckers plying its roads.

Given that, truck accidents are of course inevitable.

And, often, catastrophic. One accident that occurred in 2010 and is still seared into the memories of many people firmly underscores the tendency for many collisions involving commercial trucks to have especially deadly consequences.

That accident occurred on I-65 in Hart County, when a truck and a 15-passenger van collided. Eleven people died in that crash, including the trucker and 10 of the van's 12 occupants.

Most of the riders in the van wear not wearing their seat belts, an omission that was well noted in the accident's aftermath by state law enforcement officials and legislators. They were not breaking any law by their failure to buckle up, since Kentucky law then required -- as it still does -- seat belt use only in vehicles with 10 or fewer occupants.

Federal seat belt laws apply to vehicles with 16 or more passengers, which are classified as buses. Commentators on the Kentucky accident noted the obvious gap between state and federal law, namely, this: What to do about vehicles with more than 10 but fewer than 16 passengers?

A new Senate bill addresses that question by seeking to impose belt requirements in vehicles carrying up to 15 passengers. The bill has just passed a committee vote and will now proceed to the Senate floor for full consideration.

Source: Louisville Courier, "Senate panel moves to strengthen seat belt law," Mike Wynn, Feb. 15, 2012