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CNN Live At Daybreak

NTSB: Cell Phone May Have Contributed to Fatal Crash

Aired February 05, 2002 - 06:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COSTELLO: Did a cell phone play a part in this accident last Friday that left three people dead on the Washington Beltway? That's what the National Transportation Safety Board wants to know.

Dave Statter of CNN affiliate WUSA has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID STATTER, WUSA 9 NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): National Transportation Safety Board investigators spent the day looking for answers, trying to find out the factors that contributed to a Ford Explorer going wildly out of control and crossing into the opposite lanes of the Beltway.

DAVID RAYBURN, NTSB: Once it struck a barrier, tossed it in the air, traveled through the air and then collided with the Windstar.

STATTER (voice-over): Among other things, the investigators are trying to determine the speed of the Explorer, how well the SUV was maintained, whether barrier improvements could have prevented the tragedy, and the actions of 20-year old Dawn Richardson.

Richardson, from Arlington, the driver of the Explorer, died on impact, as did the two men and two women from Quebec who were in the Ford Windstar minivan. Investigators say Richardson was on a cellular phone at the time of the accident talking to her boyfriend, who she was following to his parent's home.

RAYBURN: They had become separated on the freeway. He had called her just to make sure everything was OK, and they were just talking on the phone for a couple of minutes.

STATTER (voice-over): Maryland State Police say the last thing Dawn Richardson's (ph) boyfriend heard were her screams.

(on camera): While we'll have to wait about 10 months for the final report from the NTSB to learn if the use of a cell phone is listed as a contributing cause to Friday's accident, one state trooper told me he wouldn't be surprised considering that on a daily basis he sees a lot of drivers who are doing everything but paying attention to their driving.

SGT. RUSSELL NEWELL, MARYLAND STATE POLICE: I've stopped many myself reading the newspaper, watching TV, eating, shaving, makeup, name it, we see it every day.

STATTER (voice-over): The federal investigators figure they have five or six more days of work in the field. They'd like to hear from witnesses, particularly anyone who saw the actions of Dawn Richardson on the Beltway near Central Avenue just prior to the crash.

Dave Statter, 9 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So if you're headed out to work, be careful.

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