Bend man killed in Hwy. 97 N. Klamath Co. crash
A 64-year-old Bend man was killed Sunday afternoon when he tried to pass slower traffic on Highway 97 in northern Klamath County and lost control of his car, which left the road and rolled several times, Oregon State Police reported.
OSP troopers and emergency personnel responded around 4:42 p.m. to the report of a single-vehicle rollover crash on Highway 97 near milepost 230, about 20 miles north of Chiloquin, said OSP Lt. Bill Fugate.
Preliminary information indicated Robert David Johnson was driving a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette heading north when he tried to pass slower traffic and lost control of the car, which left the road and rolled several times.
Johnson was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, Fugate said.
The crash closed Highway 97 for about a half-hour and it was reduced to one lane for several hours.
“Speed is being considered as a contributing factor,” Fugate said, adding that a witness estimated Johnson’s speed at about 100 mph.
Fugate said it appeared to investigators the driver was wearing a seat belt, “but it either was not attached properly (to the car) or came loose from a stripped bolt during the crash.”
OSP was assisted at the crash scene by Chiloquin Fire and Rescue, the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
