APRIL 6, 2015
A tour van carrying members of metal bands Khaotika and
Wormreich crashed off a Georgia highway Monday, killing three and injuring at
least eight.
At least three metal rockers died Monday when a tour van
carrying two bands ran off a northern Georgia road.
At least eight other people were injured, three critically,
when the van crashed off of Interstate 85 in Jackson County around 7 a.m., the
Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
Nine men and three women from two heavy metal bands —
Khaotika and Wormreich — were aboard the doomed tour van, officials said.
The names of the victims have not been released.
Police have not determined the cause of the crash. Parts of
the road are closed while officials investigate, WTSB reported.
The 15-passenger van was hauling a trailer of equipment when
it ran off the road, down an embankment and into a tree after the driver, who
survived, lost control, FOX 5 reported. Three men were ejected from the van and
died at the crash scene, officials said.
The two bands played in Spartenburg, S.C., on Sunday and
were on their way to Atlanta for another gig Monday.
“3rd show just came to the end. Thank you Spartanburg for
flying the metal flag,” Khaotika posted on its Facebook page Sunday. “Horns up.
Tomorrow - Atlanta, GA”.
The Atlanta show has been canceled, according to Acrucé
Mortem, another metal band set to play at the Monday night gig.
"We regret to announce we will not be playing The
Basement tonight with Kult ov Azazel Wormreich, Khaotika, Vesterian, and
Ancalagon due to an accident involving members of two of the bands performing
tonight. Our thoughts are with those involved," Acrucé Mortem posted
on Facebook.
According to their Facebook pages, Khaotika and Wormreich are
based in Atalanta and Huntsville, Ala., respectively.
We will wait to hear the results of the investigation, but based
on the facts reported thus far, it appears that the cause, if it was not mechanical-related, may have been a
drunk/drugged/speeding driver. The dead persons were most likely not wearing
seat belts because they were injected from the bus.
RIP, friends. See you on the other side when our time
comes. Not now, not yet.
//---------------------------------//
UNITED STATES STILL HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES IN THE WORLD: 34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.
Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people. Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.
Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV, despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty percent more people die compared to the national death rate.
Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each year. In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.
However, the number of injured is rising. Roughly 2.5 million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year. That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive is injured every year.
It is worse than a war zone out there.
So, please be safe and be on the lookout for weaving-through-the-traffic drivers, crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers, talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers, tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers, putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, elderly drivers, and so on.