Prince Dumas, 39, 111 King's Ridge Dr., Peachtree City, became the city's second traffic fatality of 1998 in an accident last Sunday evening, Police Chief James Murray reports.

Murray said that Dumas apparently turned left off Lexington Pass onto Ga. Highway 74, and mistakenly headed southbound in the northbound lane of the highway. Within a quarter-mile, Murray said, Dumas struck a northbound car head-on, causing his death and serious injuries to the couple in the other car.

Condition reports obtained yesterday from Southern Regional Medical Center state that the driver of the other car, 80-year-old Hilma Lumsden of Sharpsburg, was listed in serious condition with extensive injuries. Her husband Orville Lumsden, 82, was also considered serious but conscious, a hospital spokesperson reported.

Murray said the wrong-way driver's speed is estimated at between 45 and 55 miles per hour, but apparently neither car saw the other "because there are no skid marks at all ... it was an incredible impact." Peachtree City police received assistance from Fayette County in extricating Dumas, Murray said, because a larger "jaws of life" tool was needed.

Evidence at the scene indicated that alcohol may have been a factor in Dumas' wrong-way error, Murray said, but toxicology reports will not be available for six to eight weeks "to say for sure."

The police chief cautioned all motorists never to assume that someone will not be on the wrong side of the road.

"Drive defensively, at all times but especially this time of year when people are going to parties in areas they may not be familiar with, or drinking and driving," he said.