A 64-year-old Sebewaing woman was killed after she failed to stop at an intersection in Huron County’s Sebewaing Township Tuesday evening.
According to a press release from Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson, an investigation indicated that just before 9 p.m., Barbara Butler was driving a 2006 Ford F-150 pickup west on Canboro Road and drove through the stop sign at Bay Port Road. The vehicle then collided with a northbound 2013 Cadillac Escalade driven by 82-year-old Richard Biddinger, of Caro.
Butler was pronounced dead at the scene while Biddinger was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threating injuries.
The intersection was closed for about three hours Tuesday night as accident investigators processed the scene. The Huron County Sheriff’s Office, Sebewaing Police Department, Sebewaing Ambulance Service and Owendale Fire Department assisted at the crash site.
Hours later, at about 5:41 a.m. Wednesday, another crash occurred in Huron County following a driver’s failure to yield at a stop sign. In that incident, a 49-year-old from Deckerville driving north on Ruth Road in Sand Beach Township drove through the intersection at M-142 and collided with a westbound vehicle. The at-fault driver was not injured but four people in the other vehicle were transported to Harbor Beach Community Hospital with non-life-threating injuries.
Failing to stop or yield at intersections and private drives continues to be a major problem in rural Thumb communities, Hanson said.
“We have pled over the years and continue to plead with all drivers to heed stop signs and traffic signals, and to always yield the right of way of oncoming vehicles,” Hanson said in the release. “Distracted driving in one form or another quite often is a major contributing factor. Drivers must always concentrate on driving both inside and outside their vehicles, as well as always being aware of and obeying traffic control signs and devices.
“These practices can be the difference between life and death.”
