Death on the highway

Young driver hydroplanes on road in fatal accident

By Frank Bradley

Sentinel writer

On Sunday, the rains in Hayesville were sporadic. They came in torrents here and there, and then they stopped. But the slickness and pools they left on the roads were enough to make driving dangerous, and in an accident on Highway 64 just four miles east of Hayesville, these wet conditions along with excessive speed were enough to cause the death on a 26 year old man.

Arturo Hernandez of 35 Ft. Butler St., Murphy, NC was traveling west at 7:10 p.m. after a bad rain storm between NC 175 and Cold Branch Road when his 1995 Mazda hydroplaned and went into a spin sending him into an incoming traffic lane. Daniel Terry of Morganton, Georgia was traveling west when he saw Hernandez’s car spin out of control. Terry pulled his red Jeep off on the shoulder of the road, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the collision. Hernandez’s car slammed into him. Herandez died on the way to the hospital. Terry was treated at Murphy Medical Center and was released.

“People don’t understand that when it rains or you have other adverse conditions, you’ve got to slow down,” N.C. State Trooper G.S. Fletcher, the investigating officer told me on Tuesday. “He (Harandez) wasn’t driving all that fast if it had been normal driving conditions. He was probably going 55 or 60 miles per hour. Nothing excessive, but there was water on the road and in those circumstances it creates a completely different safety situation.”