19-year-old Ringgold woman killed on Va. 62

A 19-year-old Ringgold woman died Wednesday morning after she lost control of the orange Mustang she was driving, flipped several times and struck two trees along Milton Highway about one mile south of U.S. 58, according to the Virginia State Police.

Troopers said Montana Haynes, of Ringgold, was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the car just after 11 a.m. The accident was the third since Saturday — and the second fatality — where the driver or someone in the car was not wearing a seatbelt.

Haynes’ boyfriend, Alan Deandrea, 19, of Danville, was transported to Danville Regional Medical Center and later released. Troopers said he was walking around when they arrived on scene. Deandrea was not wearing a seatbelt, either.

“He was shook up,” Trooper Keith Isom said. “But he was walking around and talking.”

Isom said Haynes was traveling northbound on Route 62 and ran off the right side of the road before hitting a mailbox, two trees and flipping the car several times into a ditch. Black tire marks were visible on the road surface and pieces of the car and bits of trash were strewn along the grass. The Mustang rested against a tree, its windows smashed out and windshield shattered.

Speed was a factor in the wreck, which is still under investigation, Isom said.

“This was definitely a survivable crash,” Sgt. Buddy Davis said of the driver’s lack of seatbelt use. “It was a pretty soft landing once she hit that cedar tree.” 

Trooper David Cooper said the driver’s speed caused her to lose control of the vehicle, but because she was not wearing a seatbelt, she was unable to regain control.

“Once that vehicle starts to shift,” Cooper said, “she can’t control it because she’s not constrained in the vehicle.”

Tyler Perrow, 13, was killed Saturday after a single-vehicle wreck in Pittsylvania County. Perrow was one of three passengers who were all thrown from a sport utility vehicle after the driver lost control. The teenaged driver, who has been charged with reckless driving, was the only person wearing a seatbelt.

In another single-vehicle wreck Tuesday night, two people were thrown from a truck onto Kentuck Road and all four in the truck were taken to DRMC. The driver, Ronnie Dean Leadbetter, 35, was charged with driving under the influence and not wearing a seat belt. The other passenger who was ejected was also charged with not wearing a seat belt.