RADFORD, Va. – The university and city of Radford are in mourning after 19-year-old student-athlete Joseph Raccuia died in a single-car accident.
The crash occurred at approximately 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. Raccuia, who grew up in Radford, played second base for the Highlanders and was the son of longtime Radford baseball coach Joe Raccuia.
The tragedy has nearby residents calling for changes along the stretch of road where the crash happened.
“There’s been a lot of fatalities, many accidents,” said Robyn Bennett, who lives nearby. “Actually, we actually had an accident where somebody had went over the bank probably two weeks ago. So, I mean, there has been lots of accidents.”
In the past 18 months, there have been three fatalities along a 1-mile stretch of the road. Each victim was between the ages of 19 and 22.
That concerns Bennett, who has a child learning to drive.
“I do worry about my son, you know, turning out of the road or even going towards Christiansburg or Radford with all the fatalities,” Bennett said. “It’s, it’s very scary.”
Several residents who live along the road echoed the same desire for change. One resident, who has lived nearby for decades, said they are shocked they have never been involved in an accident. Another said they plan to contact the sheriff’s department to request changes.
“Setting up some radar, um, even just having signs up, just posted just to slow down, that would be fantastic,” Bennett said. “Maybe it is more awareness that there are fatalities out here and there are — those are people, those are people with families and, you know, they need to be valued and seen.”
Residents said they would like to see measures such as stationing a police officer to run radar, lowering the speed limit or installing additional signage.
The crash remains under investigation by Radford police. No additional information has been released.