Former Springfield man killed in crash.

Date: 06/06/2012
Time: Around 5:30 A.M.
Location: Illinois Valley, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Mitsubishi Mirage

By KVAL News

"ILLINOIS VALLEY, Ore. - A former Springfield resident died Wednesday morning after his car went off the road and creashed head-on into a tree.

(censored), 28, managed to crawl from the wreckage of his car sometime during the night. He was conscious when medics arrived after the accident was reported to 911 at 5:30 a.m. He died on the way to the hospital.

Oregon State Police investigators said Soesbe was driving a 1995 Mitsubishi
Mirage when the car went straight off Dick George Road in a righthand turn.

After leaving the road, the car crashed into a tree and overturned.

Soesbe was living and working in the area. He had previously lived in Springfield and Portland, police said.

Anyone with information about where Soesbe was prior to the crash is asked to contact Senior Trooper Kirk Melahn at (541) 955-6370 ext. 5001."

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Truck crash north of Klamath Falls kills man Thursday.

Date: 06/21/2012
Time: Around 9:00 A.M.
Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford F-150

By KVAL News

"KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- A Chiloquin man was pronounced dead after he crashed his truck into a concrete barrier north of Klamath Falls Thursday.
56-year-old Gerald Leroy Day was driving his Ford pickup south on Highway 97 Thursday morning. At around  9 a.m. Day veered the truck across the northbound lane, off of the road's shoulder and into a ditch. The pickup crashed head-on into a concrete barrier about two miles north of Klamath Falls.
A medical emergency is suspected to be the cause of the single-vehicle crash. Day was pronounced dead at the scene, it is unclear what the cause of death was.
The crash caused some traffic congestion near milepost 270 while crews worked to clear the scene."

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Pickup driver dies after crash with church bus.

Date: 06/24/2012
Time: Around 3:15 P.M.
Location: Sheridan, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford Ranger, school bus

by KGW.com Staff

"SHERIDAN, Ore. -- A pickup truck driver from Grand Ronde died in a collision Sunday that closed Oregon 18 for five hours.
(censored), 73, was pronounced dead at the scene. None of the children or adults on the bus from the Newberg Christian Church was hurt.
The crash was reported just after 3:15 p.m. near milepost 35, north of Sheridan, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The bus was heading westbound on a church outing to the coast when the crash occurred near milepost 34, police said. Lindberg's eastbound Ford Ranger drifted onto the shoulder, then back onto the eastbound lane, still out of control, hitting the bus.
The bus driver, one adult chaperone and nine pre-teen kids were on the bus. Parents and church members drove to the wreck and took the children to their camp outing."

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Crash takes life of Cave Junction woman.

Date: 06/23/2012
Time: Around 6:30 P.M.
Location: Cave Junction, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford Bronco, Dodge Charger

By MyBasin

"CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. — A 42-year-old Cave Junction woman was killed in a crash Saturday afternoon near her hometown and the Oregon State Police need your help potentially with the investigation.
OSP is seeking unidentified witnesses to the crash that happened around 6:30 p.m. What authorities know is a Ford SUV drifted over the centerline, prompting a California woman in another vehicle to swerve which helped avoid a head-on collision, but both cars hit each other in the passenger side. The Ford SUV rolled several times, injuring Michele R. Hebdon who later died at Rogue Valley Medical Center. The SUV’s driver was Ralph E. McCornack, who was released after treatment. It is unknown if either McCornack or Hebdon were wearing seatbelts. Both people in the California car were okay."

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SE Portland woman killed in wrong way collision on I-84.

Date: 07/06/2012
Time: Around 11:55 P.M.
Location: Near Corbett, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Kia Rio, Nissan Frontier

By KATU.com Staff and Associated Press  

"NEAR CORBETT, Ore. - The Oregon State Police is investigating a fatal crash on Interstate 84 east of Corbett that involved a motorist driving the wrong way.

According to Lt. Gregg Hastings, a 2007 Kia Rio was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes late Friday when it collided head on with a pickup driven by 53-year-old James Schneider of White Salmon, Wash.
The 36-year-old woman driving the Kia died at the scene. She was later identified as (censored) from Southeast Portland. She was wearing safety restraints and the car's airbags deployed, the Oregon State Police reported.
Schneider was taken to a Portland hospital with serious injuries.
Hastings said at least one driver complained about a wrong-way vehicle just before crash."

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Man fleeing police dies in Hampden crash.

Date: 08/22/2011
Time: Around 3:30 P.M.
Location: Hampden, Maine
Vehicle(s) Involved: Jeep Grand Cherokee

By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff

"HAMPDEN, Maine — A driver fleeing police died after crashing into a tree on Route 1A on Monday afternoon, according to a public safety official.
The man, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at 4:25 p.m. at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to Joe Rogers, Hampden Public Safety director.
Rogers said the green Jeep the man was driving was registered to a Belfast resident. Hampden police still were attempting to notify family members Monday evening.
The Jeep, which had been traveling erratically on Interstate 95 and Interstate 395, reportedly reached an estimated speed of 100 mph by the time it crashed along the section of Route 1A known as Main Road North in Hampden, Rogers said.
Just before the crash, the man sideswiped a Subaru Forester driven by a Hampden woman and took out a section of fence at Riverview Cemetery, Rogers said.
Lorraine Frawley, 62, was not injured in the crash, though her SUV had extensive damage along the entire length of the driver’s side, including a ripped-off back wheel.
“I didn’t even see him coming,” said Frawley, whose driveway is directly across the road from the spot where her vehicle was hit.
Frawley said she had just waved to neighbors and was waiting for an oncoming car to get by when the Jeep came up from behind, sideswiped her Subaru, shot ahead and then crashed.
“The police said that if I had made my turn I’d be dead,” Frawley said. Though she was calm and steady while waiting for her Subaru to be removed from the roadway, she said that she was shaken after the accident.
Frawley, who was wearing a seat belt when the crash happened, credited her vehicle’s side air bags for preventing her from being injured. She said she didn’t want to buy that particular vehicle at the time but now she is glad that she did.
The series of events that led to the deadly crash began shortly before 3:30 p.m., when the Bangor Police Department received information from Maine State Police that a vehicle traveling south from the Old Town area on Interstate 95 was operating erratically.
A vehicle matching the description given by state police was spotted on I-395 in Bangor shortly afterward by Bangor police Officer George Spencer, Bangor Deputy Police Chief Peter Arno said in a news release issued early Monday evening.
The vehicle took an exit onto Perry Road, where Spencer tried to pull it over, Arno said.
The driver allegedly refused to stop and traveled from Perry Road onto Main Street toward Hampden at a high rate of speed, eventually crashing into a tree.
The accident remains under investigation by the Hampden Police Department. It is being reconstructed by Officer Christopher Watson of the Orono Police Department, who was being assisted Monday by Officer Jim Dearing and Officer Steve Jordan of the Bangor Police Department."

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Highway fatalities unexpectedly surge.

"After a decade of sharp declines, highway fatalities increased unexpectedly during the first quarter of 2012, according to preliminary government data – and a warm winter may catch at least some of the blame.

Traffic deaths surged a substantial 13.5% for the three-month period, according to a preliminary analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  That’s a significant reversal of recent trends.  Last year, roadway fatalities fell 1.7%, to the lowest overall total in more than 60 years.  And, on a per-mile basis, it was an all-time record.

For the first quarter of this year, NHTSA says 7,360 people were called in traffic accidents, up from 6,720 the year before.  If that figure holds it would work out to about 1.10 deaths per 100 million miles driven compared to 0.98 deaths the year before.

Despite bad winter road conditions in many parts of the country, the first quarter generally sees a decline in traffic deaths because people drive less.  And, in general, American motorists have been curtailing driving, in recent years, to compensate for rising fuel prices.

But there was a 1.4% surge in the number of miles Americans drove during the first quarter of 2012, and that may have been encouraged by the unusually mild winter that brought spring and even summer-like temperatures to much of the country.

Noting the first quarter was “unseasonably warmer than usual in most areas of the country,” a NHTSA statement cautioned that, “Consequently, the fatality rate for the first quarter should not be used to make inferences for the fatality rate for the whole of 2012.”

Certainly, safety advocates hope that’s the case. The U.S. traffic death total has been plunging sharply for the last seven years.  As recently as 2005, there were 43,510 deaths on U.S. roads – a figure that includes pedestrian fatalities. But last year’s number came in at 32,310, the lowest figure since 1949. On a per-miles-driven rate it was the lowest number since the government began keeping records in 1921.

Travel also fell last year by 1.2%, year-over-year, to 2.963 trillion miles driven by American motorists.  That was the lowest figure since 2003. But Americans drove an extra 9.7 billion miles during the mild first quarter, a 1.4% increase over January to March 2011.

NHTSA’s disconcerting numbers may actually understate the problem. Using its own data the National Safety Council estimated first-quarter 2012 traffic deaths rose to 8,170, up from 7,270 a year earlier.

Whatever the final number, researchers will clearly be examining their data to determine the precise cause of, most likely, causes. Safety experts have been worried about increasing problems with driver distraction, something U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has described as an “epidemic,” responsible for as much as one in 11 fatalities on American roads."

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Driver Crashes Into Tree on Wolf Hill Road.

Date: 07/20/2012
Time: Around 12:00 P.M.
Location: Near Dix Hills, New York
Vehicle(s) Involved: Honda Civic

By Peter Walden

"A driver was injured Friday afternoon in crash on Wolf Hill Road in Melville.

The driver of a Honda Civic was traveling South on the road near Saxon Avenue when she lost control of her vehicle and slammed into a tree around noon.
The Melville Fire Department was on the scene for immediate assistance. The driver was then sent to Huntington Hospital with neck and back injuries, as well as lacerations to one leg, police said.
The driver's identity has not been released."

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Ocean Highway bus accident kills one, leaves another in critical condition.

Date: 07/17/2012
Time: Around 7:00 P.M.
Location: Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Vehicle(s) Involved: Dodge Ram, bus

By WMBF News Staff

"PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC (WMBF) – The Highway 17 crash between a bus and a pickup truck has claimed the life of one person Tuesday night and left another in critical condition.

Bob Beebe, spokesman for Midway Fire Rescue, says a collision between a 1997 Dodge pickup truck and a Williamsburg County Transit bus on Highway 17 and Beaumont Road occurred just before 7 p.m. Tuesday and it claimed the life of the pickup truck driver, (censored) 47, of Pawleys Island, due to head trauma and left one bus passenger in critical condition. 
Officials say the bus driver, Joshua McCrea, of Kingstree, SC was traveling south when the truck crossed Highway17 and the bus struck the truck's driver's side.
Coroner Kenny Johnson tells WMBF News an autopsy is scheduled for Smith Wednesday morning at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.
According to Beebe, there were 19 patients total and 12 were transported to the hospital. Three patients were taken to the Grand Strand Regional Hospital, two were taken to the Waccamaw Community Hospital and seven were taken to the Georgetown Memorial Hospital.
South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, and Midway Fire Rescue officials say the bus had a surveillance camera onboard.  South Carolina Highway Patrol will reportedly review the footage to see who was a fault.
First responders from Murrells Inlet, Horry County and Georgetown City and County assisted the Midway Fire Rescue in their response.
Beebe confirmed, the southbound and northbound lanes have been opened and the accident scene has been cleared.
Alfonzo Allen, a friend to Smith, says he witnessed the crash, and he believes Smith never saw the bus coming.
"[Smith] was just easing out [onto the road] to go home, and I guess he didn't see the bus," Allen said. "The bus tried to miss him, and hit him."
Allen says he can't imagine life without his friend Smith in it.
"It's hard for me right because that's my best friend, somebody I look up to," Allen said. "That's my brother, my friend.""

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Police Release Details on Swamp Road Crash.

Date: 09/19/2011
Time: Around 11:30 A.M.
Location: Wrightstown Township, Pennsylvania
Vehicle(s) Involved: Hyundai Elantra(x2)

By Tom Sofield

"Newtown Township police today provided additional details about a head-on collision that occurred Monday on Swamp Road in Wrightstown Township.
Police said a red Hyundai traveling westbound on Swamp Road crossed the double yellow lines and was to blame for the head-on crash, which occurred shortly before 11:30 a.m. The driver is being cited for careless driving and driving without a license, police said.
The car collided head on with another Hyundai just east of Worthington Mill Road.
Both drivers were taken by ambulance to St. Mary's Medical Center in Middletown Township. They were treated for their injuries and were out of the hospital this morning, police said.
Both cars suffered front-end damage and were towed from the scene.
Newtown police, who patrol Wrightown Township, closed Swamp Road between Worthington Mill and Twinning Bridge roads following the accident. Swamp Road was reopened in the afternoon."

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Second Elderly Plantation Bay Woman Dies After May 3 Wreck With a Truck on US1.

Date: 05/03/2012
Time: Around 5:00 P.M.
Location: Near Plantation Bay, Florida
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford F-350, Toyota Avalon

By FlaglerLive

"(censored), 76, a resident of Plantation Bay, died on May 4 from injuries sustained Thursday evening in a two-vehicle wreck just outside Plantation bay, where authorities said she lived. (censored), 68, who was riding with her, died on May 9 after battling critical injuries for four days.
The two women were involved in a violent crash between their Toyota and a pick-up truck hauling scrap metal. Look and Teske were airlifted on separate helicopters to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach. Paulo Rodrigues, the 36-year-old driver of the pick-up truck, a Palm Coast resident according to a Florida Highway Patrol reports, was in serious condition, and was transported by ground to Florida Hospital Flagler.
U.S. 1 in both directions was closed for three hours for about a mile on either side of Plantation Bay from the time of the crash, just before 5 p.m., to 8:22 p.m., by which time Roger’s Towing had cleared the scene.
The silver Toyota, according to preliminary findings by Florida Highway Patrol investigators at the scene, was stopped at the Stop sign on Plantation Bay and U.S.1. The Ford F-350 pick-up truck was traveling north on U.S. 1, in the outside lane. The Toyota attempted to pull out onto the southbound lanes of U.S. 1, crossing the northbound lanes and making a left-hand turn. The Toyota “violated the right-of-way of the F-350 Ford pick-up truck, at which point they made impact on U.S. 1.,” an FHP investigator said.
The truck’s scrap metal remained contained. But the violence of the impact embedded the truck’s front bender into the driver’s side of the Toyota, where it remained when wreckers separated the truck and the car. The car’s roof had been sheared off and its passenger side door cut and lifted to give rescuers access to the victims.  The Toyota’s steering wheel was cut off and laid by the side of the road."

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Collision causes Kingsway traffic tie-up.

Date: 04/11/2012
Time: Unknown
Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Vehicle(s) Involved: Pontiac G6, truck

By: Sudbury Northern Life Staff

"Traffic is backed up heading into downtown Sudbury at the s-curve on The Kingsway after a collision between a box truck and a small car.

The vehicles had not yet been towed as of about 4:45 p.m. April 11.

Check back to NorthernLife.ca for more information as it becomes available."

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N12 accident leaves five dead.

Date: 03/16/2012
Time: Unknown
Location: Near East Village, Gauteng, South Africa
Vehicle(s) Involved: Toyota Corolla, bakkie

By Jonckie - Accidents.Co.Za

"An accident on the N12 between Glen Harvey and Fochville has left five people dead and another one person with critical injuries.

It is not clear as to how the accident happened, but it is believed that both vehicles may have been travelling in the direction of Randfontein from Potchefstroom when they collided.

When paramedics arrived, one of the vehicles was in the road and the other on the side of the the road. Both vehicles had been extensively damaged in the collision. The five occupants of the Toyota Corolla had suffered multiple and fatal injuries, and they were found entrapped in the wreckage. There was nothing further that could be done for them and they were declared deceased. A woman who was travelling in the vehicle is believed to have been pregnant, but this is as yet not confirmed.

The driver and only occupant of the bakkie was left with critical injuries and he was treated on scene before being taken to Krugersdorp Private Hospital by ambulance.

Police are still at the scene to conduct their necessary investigations into the cause of the fatal accident."

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Head-on collision kills one.

Date: 05/14/2004
Time: Around 7:20 A.M.
Location: Rosalia, Washington
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford Focus, Chevy Tahoe

By John Craig The Spokesman-Review

"A Spokane woman who turned 21 earlier this month was killed Friday morning in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 195 at Rosalia.
Stephanie Calvert’s compact Ford Focus was crushed when it collided at 7:25 a.m. with a Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle driven by Shelley R. Solberg, 52, of Colbert.
Calvert died at the scene, 35 miles south of Spokane. Solberg and two 14-year-old boys in her vehicle were taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane with injuries that police said appeared to include broken bones and cuts.
Solberg was in satisfactory condition Friday afternoon, but the boys — including her son and a friend of his — were in serious condition in the pediatric intensive-care unit.
The Washington State Patrol did not identify the boys because they are minors.
Trooper Bruce Blood said Calvert was northbound when her car drifted into the southbound lane, almost to the fog line.
The southbound Solberg attempted to avoid the collision by steering toward the northbound lane, but Calvert made a sharp correction and the vehicles collided in the southbound lane, near the center of the road, Blood said.
He said both vehicles had been going about 60 mph, which is the speed limit, although a witness in a car behind Solberg’s said Solberg was braking when the vehicles hit almost squarely head-on.
There was no immediate indication that alcohol was involved, Blood said.
“It could have been a momentary lapse, and she just drifted over,” he said."

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All lanes are reopened on westbound 10 Freeway in El Monte.

Date: 07/24/2012
Time: Around 4:00 A.M.
Location: El Monte, California
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford Windstar, truck

By Pasadena StarNews

"EL MONTE - All lanes of the westbound 10 Freeway were reopened late Tuesday morning at Peck Road, the site of an earlier fatal accident, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Three of the four lanes were closed for more than six hours Tuesday after a minivan driver was killed and two road construction workers were injured. The accident occured at 4:14 a.m. Tuesday, said the CHP.
Traffic lanes were reopened by around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the CHP, but not before creating a major traffic slowdown from El Monte to West Covina that may have added more than an hour to commute time for motorists driving to Los Angeles.
CHP Officer Ed Jacobs says a Ford Aerostar rear-ended a road work truck as the crew picked up traffic cones on westbound 10.

Jacobs says the minivan's driver died. Two road workers were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate injuries.

Jacobs says he can't confirm TV reports that a dog in the minivan also was killed.

The crash follows a Sunday accident that killed two road workers on Interstate 405 in Torrance. Authorities say two suspected drunken drivers collided, and one car slammed into repaving equipment."

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Name released in fatal Monday morning crash.

Date: 07/16/2012
Time: Around 2:50 A.M.
Location: Near Sutherlin, Oregon
Vehicle(s) Involved: Mazda 3, log truck

By KPIC.com Staff

"NEAR SUTHERLIN, Ore. -- A Roseburg woman is dead after an early morning crash near Sutherlin on Monday.
Oregon State Police say that at around 2:50 a.m., an unloaded log truck being driven by Kelly Kremer, 59, of Myrtle Creek, was heading westbound on Highway 138 West, about eight miles west of Sutherlin,
That's when officials say (censored), 28, of Roseburg, driving a Mazda 4-door sedan, crossed the center line and struck the log truck nearly head-on.
Troopers don't know at this point why she crossed the line, but the investigation is continuing.
Officials say Clift was not wearing a seat belt, and was driving with a suspended operator's license.
Kremer was transported by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, where he was treated and released for minor injuries.
OSP officials say that he was using safety restraints.
Senior Trooper Robert Gorman from the Oregon State Police told KPIC News that there was alcohol found in Clift's vehicle, but do not know at this point if alcohol was a factor in the crash.

OSP troopers from the Roseburg Area Command office are continuing the investigation. Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Sutherlin Police Department and Kellogg Rural Fire District assisted at the scene.

The highway was closed for about four hours."

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Man dies, crashes truck into Walmart Garden Center.

Date: 07/24/2012
Time: Around 9:00 A.M.
Location: Watson, Louisiana
Vehicle(s) Involved: Ford Ranger

By Amber Stegall

"WATSON, LA (WAFB) -

The Livingston Parish Coroner's Office was called to the scene Tuesday morning after a truck crashed into the Walmart in Watson, LA.

The crash happened around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Reports state the pickup truck left the roadway at Cane Market and Highway 16, crossed the parking lot and crashed into the Garden Center side of the store.

According to the Walker Police Department Facebook page, the driver of the pickup was extricated from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. Initial reports say the man suffered from a medical condition. It is not known if he died because of the crash, or because of a medical condition. His name has not been released.

No employees or customers of the Walmart in Watson, LA were injured.

The Louisiana State Police continue to investigate the crash."

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Portion of Main Street closed until 7p.

Date: 05/16/2012
Time: Around 11:00 A.M.
Location: Reisterstown, Maryland
Vehicle(s) Involved: Kia Sorento

By Community Times

"Baltimore County Police report that a Kia traveling on Main Street in Reisterstown hit a utility pole. SHA has closed Main Street between Chartley and Glyndon drives until 7 p.m. Wednesday evening. Power outages have been reported along sections of Main Street in the crash area. The woman driving the Kia refused treatment at the scene, according to police."

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Wreck on Zierdt Road blocking traffic, crews say at least 1 person killed.

Date: 06/08/2011
Time: Around 11:00 A.M.
Location: Hunstville, Alabama
Vehicle(s) Involved: Jeep Grand Cherokee, Lexus RX

By Victoria Cumbow - The Huntsville Times 

"HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- One person died and another remains in critical condition after a two-car wreck in west Huntsville this morning.
The wreck happened around 11 a.m. near Zierdt Road and Natures Way when a Jeep Cherokee headed southbound crossed the center lane and hit a Lexus sport-utility vehicle traveling northbound, said Huntsville police spokesman Harry Hobbs.
Both drivers were transported to Huntsville Hospital by HEMSI. The driver of the Jeep, (censored), 36, was pronounced dead at the hospital, Hobbs said. Nevada Ryan, 37, remains in the intensive care unit in critical condition. Both Anderson and Ryan are from Huntsville.
Madison police confirmed passing motorists called police earlier in the day to report a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee driving recklessly on Madison Boulevard, which intersects with Zierdt Road. Police have not yet confirmed the same Jeep was involved in the accident."

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All lanes re-opened after truck flips near Scenic Overlook on Governors Drive.

Date: 04/20/2012
Time: Around 9:00 A.M.
Location: Hunstville, Alabama
Vehicle(s) Involved: Semi truck

By Shelly Haskins - The Huntsville Times

"HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- All lanes on Governors Drive westbound over Monte Sano are reopened after an 18-wheeler overturned this morning and shut some of them down.

A U.S. Express truck carrying magazine inserts flipped just before the Scenic Overlook. Two people inside the truck suffered minor injuries, according to emergency personnel on the scene.

Traffic was reduced to one lane on the westbound side and one lane on the eastbound lane for a few hours."

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Vehicle strikes building in downtown Birmingham; authorities say 6 injured.

Date: 04/20/2012
Time: Around 9:30 P.M.
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Vehicle(s) Involved: Mercedes-Benz ML, Kia Forte

By Jeremy Gray - The Birmingham News

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama --- Six people were injured tonight when a vehicle struck a building in downtown Birmingham, according to authorities.
The vehicle struck the building on Third Avenue North near 20th Street North. The conditions of those injured are not available at this time.
The incident happened shortly before 9:30 p.m."

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