Shortly after midnight on August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of
Wales, affectionately known as Lady Di, was killed in a car
crash in Paris.

She was 36 year old at the time of her death. Her boyfriend,
the Egyptian-born socialite Dodi Fayed, and the driver of
the car, Henri Paul, died as well.

Princess Diana was one of the most popular public figures in
the world, and her death was met with a massive outpouring
of grief. 

Stacks of flowers, cards, candles and mementoes reached
some 30 feet from the palace’s gate.

Princess Diana’s funeral in London, on September 6, 1997,
was watched by more than 2 billion people.

Diana Frances Spencer (1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997)

Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator
Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts drove a vehicle off a
wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond.

Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-
old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not.

The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.

There is speculation that he used his considerable influence to
avoid more serious charges that could have resulted from the
episode.

Although the incident on Chappaquiddick Island helped to derail 
his presidential hopes, Kennedy continued to serve as a U.S.
senator of Massachusetts into the 21st century. He died in 2009.

Edward “Ted” Kennedy (born February 22, 1932,
Boston, Massachusetts; died August 25, 2009).

Eddie Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960)

Eddie Cochran, the man behind “Summertime Blues”
and “C’mon Everybody,”was killed on April 17, 1960
when the taxi carrying him from a show in Bristol,
England, crashed en route to the airport in London,
where he was to catch a flight back home to the
United States.

A raw and exciting rocker with a cocky, rebellious
image, Eddie Cochran was very different from the
polished and packaged idols being heavily marketed
to American teenagers in the years between the rise
of Elvis Presley and the arrival of the Beatles. 

On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr., considered one of
the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, died at the age of 49
in a last-lap crash at the 43rd Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach,
Florida.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death made him the fourth NASCAR driver
to die within a nine-month period and eventually prompted
NASCAR officials to implement a series of more stringent
safety regulations, including the use of head-and-neck
restraints.

George Smith Patton Jr
(11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945)

     

          
  General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army,
died from injuries suffered in a car accident not in battle. He
was 60 years old.