Bad Judgment of Highly Educated Man Costs Him His Life in Fatal "Eat and Drive" Accidents

St. Charles, Mo. -- Cory L Bryan of St Peters, MO was the unlikely victim of an unnecessary death. According to Missouri Highway Patrol, on November 9, 2009, Cory L. Bryan, 35 year old male from St Peters, MO was driving his 1999 Toyota Camry off the I-70 Interstate, exiting to Missouri Route N (Florissant Road) when his car ran off the right side of the highway and struck a concrete bridge "abutment" (the base of the bridge).

One local resident commented on the exit itself saying, " This is the UMSL exit off I-70"... "In front of Express Scripts. How could this happen? They just re-engineered the entire interchange. It is a marvel in design, the easiest exit to take in the area." I drove the exit myself and there was nothing peculiar or dangerous about it. It was just your normal exit ramp.

Cory was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:46 pm by Dr. Tan of Northeast Fire Protection District and was taken to the St Louis County Morgue, Berkeley, by St Louis County Medical Examiner. His family was notified immediately. He left behind 2 children and a supportive, loving wife. He was a dedicated member of the Calvary church, and a Boy Scout Leader. According to Cory's death notice, he "graduated from Paris High School in 1992. He was a CPA and held a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Missouri-Columbia along with a Masters in Business Administration from Washington University. He worked as a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in St. Louis for 3 years and joined Emerson Electric in St. Louis in 1999 where he was a manager for corporate accounting." Everything I read about this man implicated him as a very intelligent human being. Why then, would he end up in a single vehicle fatal crash?

According to Corporal Jeff Wilson of Troop C, Missouri Highway Patrol public information office, there was no noticeable malfunction of the vehicle. After investigating the accident, they discovered Cory had just made a pit stop at the local Rally's Food Mart Monday afternoon to grab a bite to eat on his way home. The Highway patrol found food scattered in the front seat at the scene of the accident. From their best assumptions, Corporal Wilson said "He was probably just trying to eat and drive, maybe dropped something, and this caused him to run off the road."

Mr. Bryan was probably not a careless man. Everything in his history points toward him being a meticulous planner. He had insurance on the vehicle through State Farm and didn't seem to be a risk taker. He had an MBA for pete's sake. Despite being an accountant, he made one fatal miscalculation. According to the MIssouri HIghway Crash Report, Cory wasn't wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash. Maybe he was just in a hurry for a split second, but it cost him his life. If he had not been on that exit ramp, isolated from other traffic, there may have even been other victims as well.

When asked if a toxicology report had been done to rule out any substance abuse, Corporal Wilson claimed they did not have probable cause to believe Mr. Bryan was under any influence of alcohol or drugs so no toxicology was performed. He also added that eating and driving, as well as using your phone, or writing while driving, or anything else with your hands "although, not usually fatal, is the number one cause of roadway accidents" in the state of Missouri.

Please take this seriously people. This man was a valued member of the community and his life could have been spared had he taken the time to eat before he left the parking lot at Rally's. And, if you value your life, there is no reason in the world, not to wear a seat belt.