Wrong-way driver killed, four seriously injured, in Dec. 23, Inverness crash on SR 44
Inverness, Florida - One driver was killed, and the four occupants of the second vehicle were seriously injured, in a two-vehicle, Dec. 23 traffic crash that occurred on State Road 44 in Inverness, at 10:54 pm.
According to a press release by the Florida Highway Patrol, the driver killed in the crash, a 33 year-old woman from Lecanto, Florida, was driving a sedan, traveling east in the outside westbound lane of SR 44, east of Blanton Drive. The other vehicle, a van, was driven by a 30 year-old man from Kokomo Indiana, traveling west in the westbound inside lane of SR 44. For an unknown reason, the Lecanto driver's sedan entered the westbound lane and collided nearly head-on with the van. After the impact, the sedan came to rest in the westbound outside lane and the van came to rest in the center median.
The driver from Lecanto was transported to an area hospital where she later expired from injuries suffered during the crash. The press release stated that she was not wearing a seatbelt.
The driver and his three female occupants, ages 28, 7 and 5, all from Kokomo, Indiana, suffered serious injuries; each was wearing a seatbelt, according to the press release.