Two Vineland men were killed in separate crashes on Route 55 when the vehicles they were driving went out of control.


Robert Field, 20, of Evelyn Avenue was driving southbound on the highway near milepost 24 in Millville when his Honda Accord traveled off the road and struck a tree at 3:48 p.m. Sunday, according to Trooper M. Pagliughi of the state police barracks in Port Norris.

Millville Rescue Squad personnel administered CPR to revive Field. He was transported to South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center in Vineland, but pronounced dead at 5:11 p.m., Pagliughi said.

Police shut down the highway in both directions for about 90 minutes while responding to the crash.

Late Friday night, 41-year-old Claudio Kuzmicz was killed in a seven-vehicle crash on Route 55 near the Garden Road exit in Vineland.

Kuzmicz, 41, of Brandywine Drive, was pronounced dead at the seven-vehicle accident scene near exit 35 on the highway at 9:56 p.m. Friday.

State police said Kuz-micz was traveling north in his 1998 Ford Ranger when he lost control shortly before 10 p.m. and the SUV overturned across the center median and into the southbound lanes. Several other vehicles then hit Kuzmicz's SUV, police said.

The Vineland Fire De-partment had to use extrication tools to remove the driver's side door of Kuzmicz's vehicle, according to Fire Capt. Anthony Baldosaro. Kuzmicz died at the scene.

Kuzmicz was in the vehicle with his two daughters, ages 15 and 10. The girls were taken to the Regional Medical Center for treatment of back pain.

Another driver in the crash, Theodore Ferrante, 63, of Cape May, suffered a fractured skull and was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. He was listed in critical condition, police said.

None of the other motorists involved in the crash suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.

Both crashes are under investigation, and police did not give reasons for why the vehicles drifted from their lanes.