Mar 6, 2003 By Jackie Beranek 2 min read

SPRINGHILL TWP. – A 32-year-old Wind Ridge man was killed Tuesday in a single vehicle accident on Route 21, just east of the village of Ryerson. Greene County Deputy Coroner Mary Ann Lewis said speed was a factor in the death of Timothy Wayne Cunningham, 32.

State police at Waynesburg said the accident happened when Cunningham attempted to negotiate a slight right curve, at a high rate of speed, went off the roadway and traveled 99 feet through a snow-covered grass field before hitting a cement foundation of a house.

Lewis pronounced Cunningham dead at the scene.

Lewis said this is the 27th death in the county since Jan. 27.

“Only nine of those deaths have been traffic accidents,” said Lewis. “The rest have been from natural causes or suicides.”

Lewis said 27 deaths in the county is a high number for this early in the year.

“I was just going over the numbers the other day and thought that 27 is a high number, considering we are only three months into the year,” said Lewis. “I also noticed that nine of the deaths were traffic fatalities and a number of those involved speeding.”

Lewis said the traffic accidents didn’t happen in any one area, but she did say that the majority of people who did die were not teen-agers, noting they were in their 30s and 40s.

Lewis said the last fatal accident happened on Feb. 26 when Matthew E. Moore, 44, Marlin B. Wade, 30, and Walter Ray Roebuck, 42, all of Dilliner were killed in a single vehicle accident in Dunkard Township.

Springhill Volunteer Fire Department and Southwest EMS assisted police at the scene.