Car + Tree + Flames = Fatality

Despite being a few dozen yards from the ER, Rachel Dow of Edgartown lost her life yesterday in a terrible car accident. According to police, at approximately 5:45pm the 37-year-old woman lost control of her vehicle before crashing into the woods where her car burst into flames? WTF.

Dow was transported across Eastville Ave to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. State police investigators were on-Island today to try to put the pieces together.

State Police Investigate Fatal Crash on Eastville Avenue in Oak Bluffs

On Monday, February 1, 2010 at approximately 5:45 p.m. Troopers assigned to the State Police Barracks in Oak Bluffs responded to a one-vehicle accident on Eastville Avenue in Oak Bluffs which resulted in one fatality.

Preliminary investigation by Trooper David Parent indicates that 37-year-old Rachel Dow from Edgartown was driving a 1988 Acura Legend on Eastville Avenue when the vehicle went off of the roadway and into a wooded area where it then caught on fire.  Dow was transported by ambulance to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital where she was pronounced deceased.

This crash remains under investigation with the assistance of the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.  Members of the Oak Bluffs Police and Fire Departments assisted Troopers at the scene.

Release courtesy of MA State Police