Mapleton,OR: Two Mapleton High School students died in a car crash On Thursday morning, 6th November 2014

Two Mapleton High School students died in a car crash Thursday morning on Highway 126 east of Florence, highlighting the danger of the winding road from Eugene to the coast. Abigail Boydston, 17, of Noti and Weston Bowman, 16, of Mapleton died at the scene. Three other students were injured in the crash, Oregon State Police said. Those students' names have not been released. The state Department of Transportation on Thursday said the number of crashes, injuries and deaths along the stretch between Eugene and Florence is unacceptably high, and that it will fund increased law enforcement patrols. The agency also urged drivers to be extra cautious. And it said it will make improvements next year, including placement of 19 miles of new centerline rumble strips. The agency said that in the past six years there have been an average of just more than 100 crashes a year on the stretch, and an average of about 90 crash-related injuries a year. An average of three people a year die in accidents along the stretch, the agency said. "A six-year average of one crash every 31/2 days, one person injured every four days, and a fatal crash every four months is not acceptable," said Sonny Chickering, Region 2 manager for the transportation agency. Source : State promises patrols, rumble strips on twisty Coast Range highway where 2 students died