Members of the California Highway Patrol are still investigating what may have been the cause of a car accident that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Oregon woman on the afternoon before Thanksgiving Day.
What authorities do know about the fatal accident is that the woman was driving a 2004 Mini Cooper along United States Highway 199 at around 6:30 p.m. en route to Crescent City, California. She was navigating the cold and rainy roads just south of Oregon Mountain Road when police say she lost control of her vehicle. The lapse in control sent the Mini Cooper into the path of a 2001 Saturn and the two vehicles collided.
The Saturn, which was being driven by a 22-year-old man from Cave Junction, Oregon with two other passengers on board, struck the Mini Cooper on the right side. Even though the point of impact was opposite of the driver, the woman still sustained fatal injuries.
Every occupant of the Saturn was also injured in the crash. The driver sustained the worst of the injuries with bruised ribs and a broken foot. The two passengers were also injured, but those injuries were not believed to be life threatening.
Friends back in Bandon, Oregon are now mourning the woman’s death. The woman was currently a student at Southern Oregon University, where she was a freshman. She graduated from a Christian high school in Medford, Oregon, where she also played sports. With memorial services set, friends and relatives said they remembered her as a kind, creative woman with an infectious laugh.
Police continue to investigate the accident.
The World, “Former Bandon student dies in car crash,” Amy Moss Strong, Dec. 1, 2011