Why do good people die before their time? It’s a question that’s gone unanswered for as long as it’s been asked. One version or another of “this was his or her time” is often the response, but it never seems sufficient. The truth is, it’s not a question anyone can answer.
In New Hampshire, June, a month known for weddings and flowers, has been deadly, never more so than on June 21 when a young Massachusetts truck driver with a record of past offenses crossed the center line on Route 2 in Randolph and snuffed out the lives of seven motorcyclists, most of them Marine veterans. June 21 marked the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. It will be a day that, for the friends and family of those who were killed, could last forever.
Route 2 in Randolph traverses a peaceful, pastoral patch of New Hampshire hills, fields and far-off blue mountains. It’s safe, serene, no views of jagged peaks, no narrow pinched roads through steep notches, an unthreatening road. And then, in an instant, in an act that embodies all the vagaries, all the inequities, all the dumb chance of life, someone crosses the center line and the world explodes, leaving the road lined with crosses, flowers and flags.
Tragic events force everyone to realize that every day, especially every day on our roads and highways, our existence hangs on the momentary actions, or inactions, of others.
On June 16, 22-year-old Ryan Christie of Loudon was killed while riding with two friends. The vehicle’s driver, after an evening of bar-hopping, failed to navigate a turn.
On June 21, a Florida couple, Dennis and Jeannette Mello, were killed on Route 106 in Canterbury. For reasons unknown, the Mellos’ pickup truck crossed the center line and hit a flatbed truck head-on. “I don’t know why they went over the center line,” Canterbury police Officer Aaron Smith said. “It is likely we will never know.”
On June 23, another Loudon resident, Angelica Lane, also 22, was killed while waiting to make a left turn on Route 106. Her vehicle was rear-ended by a car whose driver, according to police reports, was inebriated. The impact pushed the young woman’s vehicle over the center line and into the opposing lane where it collided with a pickup truck.
The accidents prove that the battle against impaired driving has not yet been won. Alcohol or drug use appears to have been a factor in two or more of the tragedies. Investigations continue, but the struggle to understand why them, why there, what if, goes on.