A man died late yesterday afternoon following a high-speed crash on I-81 southbound between the towns of Richland and Pulanski in upstate New York. The man, identified as Richard Barton from London, England, died from severe haemorrhaging within minutes of losing control of his vehicle at high speed, making a short foray across the roadside embankment, and careening into a tree.
Traffic incident responders have calculated Mr Barton's speed to be in the region of 105mph at the moment he lost control, well over one-and-a-half times the speed limit. Markings suggest that the car veered briefly towards the left shoulder from its cruising position in the left lane before turning more sharply to the right, across the right lane and correcting slightly back to the left as it crossed the right shoulder, before travelling sixty-five feet across the grass verge and into a tree. The vehicle, a silver Acura MDX, attained its speed despite being in a gear called "D3", a gear specifically designed to limit the gearbox to the first three gears for use in situations such as towing or climbing steep gradients, neither of which the car was doing at the time. Investigators have found no evidence of the involvement of another vehicle.
Although the police are treating the incident as routine but tragic, several aspects remain mysterious. Mr. Barton's blood-alcohol content at the time of the incident was approximately 0.02—well within the legal limit, but combined with traces of acetaldehyde suggest that the deceased may have been suffering from a mild hangover. Mr. Barton may also have been distracted by loud music; when first responders arrived on the scene the car radio was still playing at high volume, tuned to The Beatles Channel on SiriusXM. The motive for Mr. Barton's speeding—or indeed his reason for even being in upstate New York in the first place—are unclear. A political campaign placard found among the wreckage is thought to be unrelated.
A tree suffered superficial damage as a result of the incident.