Three automobile accidents over the weekend claimed the lives of two Chesterfield County men and left one man in a Charlotte, N.C. hospital.

The first accident occurred Friday around 7 p.m. on Angelus Road in Ruby when 23-three-year-old Thomas R. Martin lost control of his 1996 Buick. According to a report from the S.C. Highway Patrol, Martin was driving about 15 mph over the posted 55 mph speed limit when he lost control of his car in a curve. Martin's Buick went off the left hand side of the road in a right curve then came back across the road where it collided with trees on the right hand side of the road and overturned.

Martin, of Ruby, was not wearing a seatbelt. He was pronounced dead on the scene when the Highway Patrol responded to the accident, which was not reported until 4 p.m. Saturday, according to L.Cpl. Bryan McDougald.

The discovery of Martin's Buick came more than two hours after authorities had responded to their first fatal accident of the day. Around 1:38 p.m. Saturday, officers were called out to Kirkley Road near Jefferson for a single car accident.

McDougald said 57-year-old Ronnie R. Edwards was traveling north on Kirkley Road when the Pageland man lost control of his 1985 Ford pickup. It went off the right side of the road and overturned in a ditch. Edwards was not speeding at the time of the accident, according to the Highway Patrol report.

Edwards, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was partially thrown from the vehicle. He died later from wounds he suffered in the crash.

For more information on this story, please read the May 13, 2004 edition of the Cheraw Chronicle/Chesterfield Advertiser.