The number of people who have died on North Olympic Peninsula roads has become staggering following the Saturday deaths of four young friends from Clallam Bay.
Since the beginning of the year, 11 people have been killed in seven vehicle collisions on U.S. Highway 101 and state Highways 112, 104 and 20, and one person lost her life last week at a Clallam County intersection north of Sequim.
The crashes have claimed a Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney, a longtime foster parent, a young father, a young man at home visiting family, a middle-aged couple and a Centralia man.
Last week, a wildlife photographer from SunLand was killed in a four-vehicle crash on Sequim-Dungeness Way.
And on Saturday, friends Cassidy Hunter, 16, John Hubble, 20, Damien Anderson, 18, and Erik Kroeger, also 18, were killed when the Geo Metro in which they were riding plunged into the Pysht River on Highway 112.
The car, driven by Hubble, apparently failed to negotiate a curve on the wet road and soared into the river, landing upside down sometime early in the morning.
The crash is the deadliest on the Peninsula since Jan. 13, 2000, when 26-year-old Sara Smith of Joyce and her three children — 3-year-old Samantha, 2-year-old Nathan and 3-month-old Robert — were killed on Highway 112 near the intersection of Dan Kelly Road.
Their 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis crossed the centerline on the icy road, hit an oncoming log truck and burst into flames.