A 68-year-old New Martinsville, West Virginia woman died Thursday morning after her car left State Route 7 in Newport Township, Ohio, struck a bank and flipped, throwing her from the vehicle. Brenda A. Goodfellow was pronounced dead at the scene near milepost 42, close to 7:29 a.m.
According to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Goodfellow was driving State Route 7 when her car went off the roadway, hit the bank, and flipped during the crash. The stretch of highway sits in southeastern Ohio about 25 to 30 miles downriver from New Martinsville, along a route commonly used by West Virginia residents for daily cross-border travel, the paper reports. WTAP also reported the crash Thursday, in a story by Kendyl Householder.
Multiple Agencies Respond to the Scene
The crash drew a multi-agency response. The Marietta Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating, while troopers, the Newport Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, the Washington County Coroner's Office, and Shea Towing all responded to the scene. The investigation remains active, and no cause has yet been determined.
Open questions remain about what caused Goodfellow's vehicle to leave the roadway — whether speed, road conditions, or a medical event played a role has not been established by investigators.
A Stretch of Highway With a Deadly Recent History
This is not the first fatal rollover on this corridor in recent months. In August, 34-year-old Tyler R. Auville of Newport was killed in a similar single-vehicle crash on State Route 7 in Washington County after his car went off the road, struck an embankment, and overturned, the same Parkersburg outlet reported at the time. And in September, a 54-year-old Clarington man died in a two-vehicle crash on State Route 7 near milepost 21 in neighboring Monroe County, as Hoodline previously reported.
The pattern stretches back further still. In August 2024, a Newport man was sentenced in Washington County Common Pleas Court to four to six years in prison for aggravated vehicular homicide tied to a 2022 crash on the same highway that killed a 70-year-old New Martinsville resident, according to the Marietta Times. The Marietta Post's reach extends beyond State Route 7 as well; in April, the post investigated the death of a 27-year-old pedestrian struck and killed along Ohio Route 821 in Salem Township, per the Parkersburg outlet's police log.
Ejection Risk and Ohio's Seatbelt Law
Goodfellow's ejection from the vehicle highlights a broader safety debate in Ohio. Under Section 4513.263 of the Ohio Revised Code, failure to wear a seatbelt is a secondary offense, meaning officers cannot stop a driver for a seatbelt violation alone, according to Ohio Laws. Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Charles Jones publicly urged state lawmakers in March to pass a primary seatbelt law, arguing that primary enforcement would significantly cut down on occupant ejections and highway deaths statewide, the Toledo Blade reported.
The stakes of that debate are stark. Traffic safety data compiled by Kisling, Nestico & Redick indicates that roughly 75 percent of vehicle occupants fully ejected during a crash suffer fatal injuries. Off-roadway impacts and unbelted ejections are widely documented as leading factors in severe rural highway crashes.
The danger isn't confined to passenger cars. Last month, Hoodline reported on a motorcyclist's fatal guardrail crash elsewhere in Washington County, another case investigated by OSHP. Statewide, the scale of the problem shows up in holiday enforcement numbers too — during the 2025 Labor Day reporting period, OSHP recorded 23 fatalities across 20 fatal crashes in Ohio, and troopers made 398 OVI arrests as part of their broader highway safety push.
