Both tractor-trailer drivers involved in a “high impact” crash Monday morning on a Kansas roadway outside Wichita died, the Butler County Sheriff’s patrol has reported. 

Among the drivers was William “Billy” Ahring, 53, of Owensville.

Deputy Sheriff Daimon Cundiff said Ahring was pulling an empty flatbed trailer eastbound when he failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Southwest 150th and Santa Fe Lake Road. A northbound tractor-trailer loaded with large “base-type” rock, apparently recently filled in a nearby quarry, struck the passenger side doors and fuel tanks of Ahring’s rig.

“Both trucks caught fire pretty quickly,” said Cundiff after viewing witness statements.

Cundiff said the weather was “mostly clear, sunny, typical spring weather” at the time the crash was reported at 11:20 a.m.

Cundiff said the four-way intersection required east-west traffic to stop; the north-south traffic does not.

“It doesn’t look like there was any slowing down by anyone,” said Cundiff.

Cundiff told television station KSNW the speed limit on both roads is 55 mph and described the crash “as high-impact.”

A resident in the area witnessed the crash. Cundiff told Kansas media that there were no suspected signs of impairment by either of the drivers, a point he repeated for The Republican.

“No indications of impairment,” said Cundiff. 

Ahring was being fondly remembered Tuesday as one who was willing to teach area youngsters the game of bowling at his family’s business, Owensville Bowl. His son, Tyler, went into teaching and coaching and is head coach of the Dutchmen baseball team at Owensville High School.

The team’s scheduled Four Rivers Conference game Monday at Hermann was postponed until a later date. School officials notified the head coach of his father’s death as they were preparing to depart by bus. Ahring’s wife, Belinda, is city clerk at Gerald and a former secretary to the R-2 Board of Education.