According to an article in the Virginian Pilot, three seniors from Green Run High were killed on Friday, November 15, 2008, when the car they were in crossed the center line on a rural stretch of Salem Road and was hit by a van. The three teens had just left the nearby Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center, where they took classes. It was raining, and the at-fault driver was apparently speeding around a slick curve in the 2700 block of Salem Road when he lost control of his Volkswagen.
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The driver of the van could not avoid the car and slammed into the passenger side pushing it into a ditch. The impact killed Kirkbride and two passengers: Joseph Jenkins and Adam Ross Sherman. According to Virginia Beach Police, all three were wearing their seat belts. My deepest sympathies go out to their friends and family. This loss of life is terrible, especially considering they had their whole lives ahead of them (the two passengers were 17 years old).
The driver of the van was hospitalized with broken bones but is expected to make a complete recovery. Dennis Chandler rushed out of his home and saw the mangled vehicles. Mr. Chandler said the driver of the van stated that there were two cars traveling in his direction at the time and he couldn’t avoid both.
Police spokesman Adam Bernstein said “crash investigators were trying to determine whether the sedan was racing or attempting to pass another car. He said it didn’t appear that the van driver was at fault.” According to city records, there have been eight reported crashes within a mile of the fatal scene since the beginning of 2007. The speed limit on the two-lane stretch of Salem Road is 35 mph.