Traffic accidents increased in frequency last week after a long bout of inclement weather left highways and other roads slick with rain and water. In Wikesboro, North Carolina, a mother and her young daughter were killed after the mother lost control of her sedan during a rainstorm. Her car left her lane and struck an oncoming car head on.
Emergency workers say that 22-year-old Brittney Dancy and her daughter, five-year-old Makayla Birch, both of Davis Memorial Church Road, were on their way to Makayla’s kindergarten classes at Mount Pleasant Elementary School on the morning of November 10 when the accident occurred. The North Carolina Highway Patrol said that Dancy was driving the posted 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, but should have been going slower because of the rainy road conditions.
According to the driver of the second car, 24-year-old Sarah Huffman of Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the other car, a Honda Accord, hydroplaned, crossed the double yellow centerline, and smashed head-on into Huffman’s car. Although Huffman tried to avoid the accident by moving to the right shoulder, she could not prevent the NC car accident.
Huffman, a nurse, removed the small child from the wreck and preformed CPR on the girl until emergency services arrived. However, both the mother and child died from their car accident injuries. Huffman was taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Police said that Huffman did everything possible in the situation and the road conditions were the main culprit. No traffic citations were handed down.