Deadly Three-Vehicle Crash Results in One Injury and One Death

The majority of today’s most recently manufactured motor vehicles have safety features like lane departure warning and emergency braking. The reason for this is that a great many accidents are caused by a driver either drifting off-road or drifting into adjacent lanes of traffic or even into oncoming traffic. 11% of all crashes are caused by a driver veering into another lane. 22% of crashes involved a car veering off of the roadway entirely. In many cases, the actual accident is not caused by veering into the lane, but when a driver over corrects after noticing that their car has gone off-road or into another lane. This can cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle, causing a serious accident.

The Ocala StarBanner reports that one person was killed and another was injured in a three-vehicle crash that occurred in Lynne.

Marion County Fire Rescue reported that the call regarding the accident came in at 5:27 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. First responders arrived at the scene at 5:32 p.m.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 32-year-old Lenroy P. Forbes was driving a Dollar General semi-truck westbound on SR 40. 31-year-old Christopher Defelice was driving an older model Toyota Celica eastbound. A 2013 Ford Fusion was behind the Toyota.

Defelice’s car veered into the truck’s lane, where the left side of the vehicle struck the left side of the semi-truck. The impact forced the truck left, where it crossed the eastbound lane. The truck then struck the Ford.

The impact to the Ford was severe enough to rip open the driver’s side of the door, ejecting 38-year-old Theresa Benedict. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck had to be extricated from his cab and suffered from serious injuries. Defelice only suffered from some minor injuries, including facial lacerations.

The crash shut down lanes of the roadway until it was cleared at 1:20 a.m.