UPDATED: Two Sonomans Killed in Single-Vehicle Colision

UPDATED: The CHP has released the name of the passenger killed in the crash as Morgan Elizabeth Marcy, a 28-year-old Sonoma resident.

Two Sonoma residents were killed Friday evening after their car missed a curve on Highway 12, just north of Glen Ellen, colliding into a large tree, according to a statement from the California Highway Patrol.

At 11:50 p.m. Justin Perkins, a 24-year-old Sonoma man, was driving a 1995 Dodge Neon eastbound on Highway 12, to the east of Trinity Road at a "high speed," said the CHP.

During a gradual rightward curve the car swerved off the road, ramming into a large tree, which crushed into the front side of the vehicle.

Perkins, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from his car; his passenger, a 28-year-old Sonoma resident, who has not yet been identified by police, was wearing his seat-belt.

Paramedics pronounced both men dead on scene.

In 2009 Caltrans spent $2.2 million widening Highway 12, spending the bulk of the funds on the scenic but windy seven-tenths of a mile stretch between Arnold Drive and Trinity Road.

The project was intended to increase safety on the notorious stretch and bring the roads up-to-date, according to a 2005 Environmental Report.

The cause of the collision is being investigated by the Napa branch of the California Highway Patrol.