
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995                   TAG: 9509260072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HEAD-ON CRASH KILLS WIRTZ DRIVER

A Franklin County woman was killed Sunday evening when a pickup truck crossed the centerline along Virginia 699 and collided head-on with the four-wheel-drive vehicle she was driving, according to the state police.

Neva J. Price, 39, of Wirtz was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck, which happened about 5:30 p.m. near Rocky Mount, said Sgt. R.D. Ross of the Virginia State Police.

Price was an employee at Ippy's, a popular Rocky Mount restaurant.

A passenger in Price's vehicle, teen-ager Stacie Nolen of Franklin County, and the driver of the pickup, teen-ager Matthew Hubbard of Fincastle, were flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Nolen was listed in very serious condition with a head injury Monday night, according to a nursing supervisor.

Hubbard was listed in serious condition with a broken leg and facial fractures.

Two passengers in the truck, Jamie Montgomery and Galen Layman, both of Wirtz, were not seriously injured, Ross said.

Price and Nolen were wearing seat belts, but none of the people in the truck was, he said.

Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, Ross said.

Price is the 11th person to die on county roadways this year.

Steve Goodwin, an employee of the Department of Motor Vehicles, is analyzing the wrecks, a project he began in conjunction with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office when traffic fatalities in the county soared to 15 in 1994, the most in 10 years.

Betty Hayden contributed information to this story.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB