Local highway safety advocate was seriously injured in fatal I-95 crash

The former leader of an insurance industry-funded nonprofit aimed at reducing highway deaths was seriously injured in a crash that took the life of a 29-year-old woman on I-95 earlier this month.

Adrian K. Lund, 72, retired from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2017 but has been listed as a trustee of a U.K. charity called Towards Zero Foundation, which works internationally to try to end all road fatalities and advance other safety efforts.

On Aug. 7, Lund, a McLean resident, was driving a 2020 BMW 540i southbound on I-95 in Springfield near the Old Keene Mill Road exit, south of the Beltway, around the time that 29-year-old Reston resident Stephanie D. Garcia made an illegal U-turn on the highway, according to Virginia State Police.

Police provided the following details:

Garcia was also driving a BMW, a 2016 228i, and was in the I-95 Express Lanes when the vehicle ran off the left side of the interstate and made the U-turn in the shoulder.

Based on witness accounts, the BMW then stopped on the southbound shoulder facing north. It then pulled back into the Express Lanes and struck Lund’s vehicle head-on.

The impact of the crash, which occurred at 6:59 a.m., caused Garcia’s BMW to spin around and strike the Jersey wall, and Lund’s vehicle overturned and came to rest on the right shoulder.

While Lund was wearing a seatbelt, Garcia wasn’t and was thrown from the car. She was taken to Fairfax Inova Hospital, where she died from her injuries the following day on Aug. 8.

Police said yesterday (Thursday) that they are still investigating the crash and awaiting a final report from a medical examiner.

Lund spent over three decades of his career at the Arlington-headquartered Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He took on the role of president in 2006 and testified before a Congressional commerce subcommittee in 2017 on truck-related deaths.

IIHS spokesperson Joe Young said staff were aware of the crash, and he believed Lund left the hospital, where police said he was treated for serious injuries, shortly after the crash.

Young said last week that he learned from staff that Lund was recovering at home.

Lund has continued to advocate for safety efforts and regularly shares news about related issues on Twitter.