Senseless

Info from the Herald-Leader (I won't bother linking, as it will not be available after a few days)

Last night a woman just a little younger than me was killed on New Circle Road by someone who was quite probably drunk. His car was travelling the wrong way on the inner loop without its lights on. He struck one person's car, then collided head on with the dead woman's car. The force of the crash was such that the man's transmission and engine wound up on the outer loop (crossing a grassy median), where another car struck those. Everyone was injured, but had their seat belts on, and of course the one woman was killed.

She hasn't been identified yet. She was someone's daughter, quite likely someone's mother, even grandmother. Her death was due to someone's deliberate choice to drink and drive. In all, four people could have died on that road last night.

New Circle Road is the inner beltway around Lexington (the outer one is Man O'War). Three-quarters of it is a limited access highway; the north-east section was built first and is lined with businesses. But on the rest the speed limit is 50 or 55, hence the high force of the crash (and who knows how fast the drunk driver was going). I have to admit, I tend to avoid it for the most part when I'm driving because 1) they drive like crazy people there, like they're on an actual Interstate, and 2) I usually have older cars and don't really want to break down along that stretch of road, since there are no businesses to walk to. I also avoid I-75 and I-64 for the same reason. What can I say, I guess I drive like a fuddy-duddy. And yes, I've had my own brush with drunk driving, when a driver without his headlights on ran up on a median, sending a speed limit sign careening in the air towards my vehicle, which fortunately just stopped short of coming through the windshield. I'm lucky we weren't hurt in that one, and that the other car he actually smashed into had no one hurt either.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear of this woman's death. My thoughts and prayers are with her family, and I hope the driver who killed her is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

UPDATED: The woman's name was Connie S. Layne. Her funeral is Sunday in Pike County, in Eastern Kentucky. According to her obituary, she was a social worker. She is survived by her mother and stepfather, two sisters, a grandmother, three nephews, and a niece. My condolences to them during this difficult time.

Although court records do not show a previous DUI for the driver who'd been going the wrong way, he had been arrested for public intoxication twice, driving without insurance, and operating a vehicle without a licence in the past.