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I-95 Fatal Head-On Kills 2, Injures 3

By Eddie Farah

No one knows why a St. Augustine woman was driving south in the northbound lane of I-95 at 3 a.m., Thursday morning. She was killed instantly when her vehicle collided head-on with an SUV carrying a South Carolina family.

A passenger in the SUV died as well.

Rachel Higgins, 33, a St. Augustine optician, was pronounced dead at the scene. She leaves behind a 13-year old daughter. Family members tell First Coast News, her daugher was the light of Higgins' life.

The other fatality was Debra Baughman, 45, a teacher. Her husband, SUV driver, Scott Baughman, 44 and 19-year-old Lindsey Baughman were injured but in fair condition at Shands-Jacksonville Hospital. 13-year-old Aaron Baughman was in critical condition at Shands.

No one in either vehicle was wearing a seat belt. It's amazing from the video that anyone survived at all.

The Baughman family was on their way to Fleming Island in the Jacksonville area to visit relatives.

This stretch of I-95 near International Golf Parkway and State Road 16 is no stranger to head-ons.

In the past year, there were two other crashes involving drivers traveling the wrong-way on I-95 in St. Johns County. In that case, one year ago, a man was traveling north in the southbound lane when he hit an SUV around midnight. Two people died.

Then last December, a car traveling north in the southbound lane hit a van on I-95 about a mile south of CR-210 on I-95. Four people were injured in that auto accident.

Obviously visibility late at night or early in the morning is a problem, especially along a stretch of Florida Interstate. The FHP speculates the heavy rain at the time may have had something to do with it. They will check to determine if alcohol was a factor.

"We're still trying to determine where she may have got on the wrong way and how long she'd been there," FHP Lt. Bill Leeper tells Channel 4. "It was bad. When you have someone traveling on the wrong side of the road, the motorist traveling in the right direction doesn't expect that."

Our condolences go out to both families. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on July 18, 2008 (boomark / email).