News and notes from Reston (tm).

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Reston Woman Becomes County's 27th Traffic Fatality

A 79-year-old Reston woman has died from injuries sustained during an accident on Baron Cameron Avenue on Oct. 14.

One week after a crash in the Reston area, a 79-year-old woman has died. On Wednesday, October 14, Mary Stack-Dunne was driving a 1996 Pontiac Sunfire south on North Village Road around 7:25 p.m. She did not stop for the stop sign and pulled into the path of a 46-year-old woman in a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, who was driving west on Baron Cameron Avenue. The impact caused severe injuries to Stack-Dunne and she was medevaced to Inova Fairfax Hospital where she died on Wednesday, October 21. She lived in the 1500 block of Twisted Oak Drive in Reston. Speed and alcohol were not factors.
This is the 27th fatal crash in Fairfax County. Last year at this time, there were 19 fatal crashes.

Posted by Restonian at 12:20 PM

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12 comments:

  1. Terrible shame. I do wonder, though, how good this woman's night vision was, as she was almost 80 years old and driving well past sundown when she went through the stopsign. I used to work in rockville, and driving in the shopping centers nearby was harrowing because of the many senior citizens who, unfortunatley, should no longer have been driving. People randomly stopping in the middle of the road, pulling out into traffic without looking, failing to stop at stopsigns, and the like.

    I wonder what happened to the other driver?
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  2. I drove by the aftermath of this crash. It wasn't pretty.
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  3. I think that the description of the accident may be inaccurate. My guess is that she stopped at the stop sign there but tried to get to the median of Baron Cameron Ave (606) while failing to make sure that there was no westbound traffic on 606. Diminished vision after dark, hampered ability to judge distances and the speed of oncoming traffic, and slow reaction time probably all played a role in her causing the accident. If she had to drive alone, she should have stayed to Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron where traffic lights would have limited her need to navigate oncoming traffic.
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  4. Broke in Charter Oak (BiCO)Oct 28, 2009 12:42 PM
    Perhaps I'm just missing something, but as someone who traverses the intersection of Village Road and Baron Cameron Avenue everyday is there not a traffic signal here? I know if you turn from North Shore Drive onto Village Road there is a traffic light straight ahead of you at the intersection with Baron Cameron(and a yield sign for motorists trying to make a right to head east on Baron Cameron towards Route 7). There is a left-hand turning lane from both diretions of Baron Cameron onto Village Road (with turn arrows). Does the traffic signal not serve the part of the intersection to the north side, and, if not, then WHY? I never saw this as being a particularly dangerous intersection, especially compared to the rush-hour free-for-all of Temporary Road @ Old Reston Avenue & Parc Reston, where left-hand turns can be tricky with people flying around the corner from Reston Parkway.

    Does that death tally include the multiple-fatality pile-up recently on the Fairfax County Parkway that took the lives of parents of four children? I have seen an accident every month that I have been living here. There are simply too many people in this county texting, eating, reading, smoking, fiddling with their GPS/XM/iPods while driving. I'm guaranteeing a distracted driver hit that family on the parkway, causing them to careen into oncoming traffic.

    My prayers and sympathies do go out to the family of Ms. Stack-Dunne.
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  5. North Village -- not Village -- no traffic signal ... this is the 3rd fatal accident at this intersection that I am aware of since 1989
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  6. Broke in Charter Oak (BiCO)Oct 28, 2009 12:49 PM
    Ah. Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was Village @ Baron Cameron. I know exactly which intersection this is now.
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  7. Texting is lameOct 28, 2009 01:08 PM
    Texting while driving should be more aggressively enforced.
    I see people doing it in about every third car on 267 when I look out from the bus on my way to West Fall's Church.

    It is criminally negligent to text and drive.
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  8. The crossing there is a shortcut for people to get from Lake Anne to North Point Village Center and back again. There is only a stop sign at Baron Cameron.

    Older drivers may err in making such crossings because of their slow reaction time and timidity. They may fail to look at the same traffic flow a second time to make sure it's still safe.
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  9. From the Uplands of RestonOct 28, 2009 02:39 PM
    Maybe the driver on Baron Cameron didn't have her headlights on. Lots of poor drivers in this area. Those not using headlights in twilight , rain or restricted visibility are saying "Here's my sigh. I'm stupid".
    Please everyone, drive safely and wear a seat-belt. Be careful out there.
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  10. That intersection is dangerous and it has nothing to with age or night vision. The fact of the matter is drivers can easily mistake where Village road ends and Baron Cameron starts because Baron Cameron is a divided highway and you can think the far lane of Baron Cameron for being tha actual road and edge into oncoming traffic of the near lane.... there are no obvious road markins. VDOT really needs to look at this.
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  11. PS: Meant to say North Village Rd in the comment above.
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  12. If you don't pull up all the way to the edge of Baron Cameron, you also can't see the cars heading toward Herndon.
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