Three More Individuals Lose Their Lives on California Highways

Sadly, we lost three more young people in a terrible car accident on a California freeway last month, the 19-year-old male driver and a male and female passenger. In total, eight students were driving in a 2000 Honda Prelude on Route 78 in Oceanside on August 21, 2014 when the vehicle traveled down an embankment, struck a pole and was cut in-half. According to an officer of the California Highway Patrol, the students were trapped in the vehicle with power lines dangling around the car but none touching the ground.

Of the eight students in the vehicle at the time of the crash, three Japanese college students died and the five other Japanese students were seriously injured. All of the students were incoming freshmen at Palomar College in San Marcos and they were living with host families in and around San Diego. According to college president, Robert Deegan, the pain of losing a student is terrible and, in this case, it is multiplied by three. The remaining five students where were injured are expected to make a full recovery.

Many of the Japanese students who attend Palomar do so to improve their English and earn credits to transfer to other colleges in California such as California State University or the University of California. It is suspected that the students may have been returning from a bonfire in Oceanside when the accident occurred. Officers are currently investigating the incident to determine if the students were wearing seat-belts immediately prior to the accident as well as what may have possibly caused the accident. There is an obvious question of why there were eight people in a vehicle that typically seats only four people.