3 Dead In Cimarron Turnpike Accident

RED ROCK, Okla. (AP) _ Three people died in a fiery two-vehicle collision on the Cimarron Turnpike southeast of Red Rock in rural Noble County, authorities said. <br/><br/>The accident happened about 11:05

Sunday, November 26th 2006, 2:16 pm

By: News On 6

RED ROCK, Okla. (AP) _ Three people died in a fiery two-vehicle collision on the Cimarron Turnpike southeast of Red Rock in rural Noble County, authorities said.

The accident happened about 11:05 p.m. Saturday when a vehicle driven by Melissa Sue Robinson, 49, Owasso, headed west in the eastbound lane of U.S. Highway 412 and slammed head-on into Lawrence Young's oncoming pickup truck, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said in a supplemental report.

Young, 46, of Tulsa and his daughter, 13-year-old Caitlin Young, died at the scene from massive injuries, the patrol reported. Robinson's car caught fire and burned, and she also died at the scene from massive injuries and burns, troopers said.

All three people were pinned in the wreckage until they were freed by the Perry Fire Department.

It was the state's second multiple-fatality traffic accident in as many days. Late Friday, two people died after a head-on collision on a rural stretch of Interstate 35 in Carter County near Springer.

That accident killed James Leonard Miller, 75, of Ardmore, and Amanda Nichole Money, 19, of Calera. The OHP report said Miller's pickup was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of I-35 when it collided head-on with Money's vehicle.

The report also noted that a trooper detected the odor of alcohol on one of the drivers.

Through Saturday, the OHP said 36 people had died on Oklahoma roads in November. That's considerably less than in 2005, when 68 fatalities had occurred through the first 25 days of November on state roads.

The overall yearly total of traffic deaths this year also has dropped. Through Nov. 25 of last year, the OHP said 715 people had died on state roads, compared to 652 this year.