A 23-year-old driver and a 20-year-old passenger in a Ford Mustang were killed in a car crash on U.S. 221 just four miles north of Marion in North Carolina (NC). Reports indicate the driver was going 75mph in a 50mph zone and lost control of the car on wet pavement, according to the citizen-times.
The Mustang wound up hitting a ’06 Chrysler and the two people in that car were seriously injured. Both are receiving treatment at Mission Hospital.
My sympathies go out to the friends and family members of the two young men who died in this accident. Any loss of life is tragic, but it has to be especially painful when someone dies so young and has their whole life ahead of them.
Let’s hope this tragic accident sends a signal to drivers that speeding is simply unacceptable and the consequences can be devastating. There are two families now grieving the loss of a loved one; parents struggling with the death of a child, because of speeding.
There were 33,963 car accident deaths in the United States in 2009, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Over 1,400 of those deaths occurred in North Carolina with 475 deemed “speeding related.” Granted, that number is down from 622 in 2008, but we need to continue this progress and stress the importance of maintaining a proper speed while on the road. 475 North Carolinians killed due to speeding is 475 too many.