HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A little more than halfway through 2023, the number of fatal traffic crashes has equaled the number reported by the Guam Police Department in 2022.
On Tuesday evening, GPD spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella confirmed both drivers involved in a two-car collision early Sunday morning had died after being transported to the hospital.
According to the news release sent by Savella, on Sunday at about 2:41 a.m., officers responded to a traffic crash on Route 10 by Leyang Road in Barrigada. Guam Fire Department personnel were already at the scene providing medical assistance.
According to Savella, GPD’s Highway Patrol Division launched an investigation and determined the driver of a silver sedan had been driving northbound on the inner lane of Route 10 before a red sedan, driving in the opposite direction, “encroached onto the oncoming lane and collided with the silver sedan.”
Savella stated at the time the driver of the red sedan was transported to Guam Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, while the driver of the silver sedan was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Savella confirmed the driver of the silver sedan was pronounced dead at Guam Regional Medical City on Monday and identified by his family as 59-year-old Gilbert James Charfauros.
The identification of the driver of the red sedan remains unknown, as GPD are trying to locate their next of kin.
In the meantime, the investigation remains open and further details will be updated as new developments are available for release, Savella stated.
Savella confirmed with The Guam Daily Post the two deaths mark the 13th and 14th traffic-related deaths this year, which equals the total number in 2022.
2023 deaths
The first five traffic fatalities of the year occurred in February.
The first was Venix Fiden, a man from Yigo, who on Feb. 7 was driving a Nissan Pathfinder on Route 15 before colliding with a garbage truck.
The second was pedestrian Martin Perez Ruiz, of Tamuning, who was struck by a Honda Ridgeline on Feb. 12 while traveling in the middle eastbound lane of Route 1 while using a crosswalk at the ITC intersection in Tamuning.
Five days later, on Feb. 17, bicyclist Jeffry Ignacio was hit by a Mitsubishi Lancer near the U.S. Postal Service’s Guam Main Facility in Barrigada. The man was in critical and unstable condition, and three weeks later he was pronounced dead.
On Feb. 22, Florinda Herrera Rosero, an 83-year-old woman using the crosswalk at the ITC intersection, was struck by a Ford F-150.
On Feb. 25, motorcyclist Charles Chet Gallinari, of Yigo, was hit by a Dodge Challenger executing a U-turn on Route 1 by Chief Brodie Memorial Elementary School in Tamuning.
In March, 38-year-old Kamerino Angkel died after being hit by a car as he was crossing Route 1 by Hmart in Anigua, marking the sixth traffic-related fatality of the year.
On May 12, Malee Estrellado was fatally hit by a vehicle as she was crossing the intersection of Route 10 and Route 15 in Mangilao.
In April, there was one death in Humåtak after Manley Blechel, the driver of a liquid petroleum gas tanker truck, ran off Route 2, collided with a guardrail and landed in a ravine.
On May 19, a two-car crash on Route 16 in Harmon by Today’s Realty, just before the underpass, resulted in the death of the two drivers involved. One was identified as 24-year-old Maxon William. The other driver hasn’t been identified.
In June, a 2-year-old girl died after being hit by a car as she was playing with other children in the parking lot of an Upper Tumon apartment complex. In the same month, a motorcyclist was pronounced dead after hitting a curb as he was passing the entrance to Gov. Joseph Flores Memorial Park on Route 14 in Tumon.
Paint marks the scene of a two-vehicle crash on Route 10 in Mangilao on Sunday, July 16, 2023.
