Man advocates for safer roads after losing wife in crash on Matthews highway

MATTHEWS, N.C. — A husband has a message for drivers after he lost his wife in a crash in Matthews nearly a year ago.

David Counter said his wife, Lee Strode, was killed by a speeding driver on Highway 74 on Dec. 23, 2021. While charges were filed in the case, Counter told Channel 9 that now he is fighting to keep the same thing from happening to others.

Counter said he and Strode met in a club in Orlando while she was in Clearwater. For 12 years, Counter said they were inseparable, marrying only a year after they met and then moving to the Charlotte area.

“Lee was quite genuinely the smartest person I’ve ever known,” Counter said. “And she’s the most generous, most giving person I’ve known.”

Their time together came to an end two days before Christmas 2021 when Strode was killed in a traffic accident. Counter said he will never forget that fateful knock on the door.

“It really didn’t sink in until he sat me down and said, ‘Do you have a friend that can sit with you?’ And it didn’t sink in until 15 minutes after he’d gone,” Counter said.

He said he spent months trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life before deciding to preach the gospel of traffic safety.

“I want to raise awareness of road traffic deaths and make sure that no one else has to go through this,” Counter said.

The speed limit on the bridge where the crash happened is 55 mph. The Matthews Police Department said the driver who caused the deadly collision was going at least 85 mph.

30-year-old Jonathan Francis Keating has been indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor death by vehicle and reckless driving, investigators confirmed.

“What happened to Lee, what happens in the majority of cases is avoidable, so my message would be to drive responsibly,” Counter said.

And the message he wants to share with drivers -- slow down. It’s a living memorial to his wife, he added.

“I want something positive to come from this, and I think the best way of memorializing Lee would be to work as an advocate for road safety,” Counter said.

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