Deadly start to Memorial Day weekend: Two traffic deaths within hours on Marion roads
Two people died within hours in separate single-vehicle crashes on opposite ends of Marion County.
The crashes, one in Silver Springs and the other within the city limits of Dunnellon, were in rural sections of two-lane roads. Both crashes were investigated by Florida Highway Patrol troopers, who said it's unknown if speed was a factor in either.
The first crash happened in northeast Marion County
In the first wreck, on Friday, FHP officials said a Toyota Scion driven by a 40-year-old woman from Silver Springs was northbound on CR 314A when, for an unknown reason, the vehicle went off the roadway.
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The Toyota veered onto the east shoulder and the driver overcorrected to the left, troopers said. The vehicle then traveled across the northbound and southbound lanes and entered the west shoulder. The front left of the vehicle struck a large tree.
The crash, which happened not far from Northeast 17th Place, blocked traffic for several hours.
As motorists were told to turn around by FHP officials, other troopers were piecing together what happened and comforting family members who had showed up at the scene.
Medical Examiner's Office officials arrived on scene to conduct their investigation, and a tow truck operator was on hand to remove the mangled vehicle.
County fire officials said they received the call at 7:53 p.m. and arrived at 7:58 p.m. The woman was pronounced deceased at 7:59 p.m. Her name was not released by troopers.
Firefighters had to extricate the victim from the vehicle through the driver's side door using a special equipment.
The second crash happened near Dunnellon
At about 3:55 a.m. Saturday, Dunnellon Police Department officers responded to a crash along County Road 484, not far from Southwest 190th Avenue.
A DPD officer and county fire officials arrived at the location and saw a severely damaged Toyota Corolla and two men, both in their early 20s and from Dunnellon.
One of the men, who was the passenger, died at the scene, officials said. The other man, believed to be the driver, was taken to HCA Florida Ocala hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. Their names were not released by officials.
FHP officials said the Toyota was traveling westbound on CR 484 approaching a left curve. The driver failed to negotiate the curve and went off the roadway to the right.
The car first struck a barbwire fence, a guidewire, and then a large tree. A separate guidewire was not damaged by the vehicle. A Duke Energy repairman was on scene to fix the guidewire.
Although the crash was within the Dunnellon city limits, the investigation was turned over to the FHP because the DPD does not have a traffic homicide investigator.
The last time DPD had a fatality within the city limits was in July 2015, authorities said.
A very busy holiday weekend for the FHP
Troopers had a busy start to the Memorial Day weekend, with law enforcement officials investigating several crashes countywide.
Some of the wrecks were on Interstate 75 and involved multiple vehicles. One crash on the highway involved five vehicles, with three people suffering minor injuries, and two drivers were cited for careless driving, troopers said.
The weekend fatalities were the second and third of the week in Marion County, following a five-vehicle pileup on Tuesday that killed one person and injured nine others, including children.
All of the crashes are under investigation.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Memorial Day weekend crashes kill two in Marion County, Florida
