BUCHANAN TWP — A driver is dead after a head-on collision with a semi-truck, caused by weather-related road conditions.
Berrien County deputies were sent to the area of US Highway 12 and Franklin Street in Buchanan Township, miles away from the Indiana border.
There, deputies found the trailer of a semi-truck overturned in a ditch. A black SUV was pinned underneath it.
Deputies say the SUV's driver was found inside, deceased.
Reports indicate the crash happened just before noon on Thursday.
According to witnesses, the SUV was heading east on US Highway 12 and was driving behind a second semi-truck. The SUV pulled out to pass the truck and lost control, veering off the roadway and nearly hitting a guardrail.
When the SUV driver regained control of the vehicle, straightening back into the roadway, the SUV was hit head-on by a westbound semi-truck.
In the collision, the semi-truck knocked the SUV backward, and the SUV slid off the road into a deep embankment. The semi-truck rolled over and came to rest on top of the SUV.
At this point, deputies do believe that wet and slushy roads factored into the crash. However, the crash is still under investigation.
Deputies declined to identify the driver until the family can be notified.
The truck's driver suffered no injuries.
The sheriff's office was assisted at the scene by the Michigan State Police, Southwest Michigan Community Ambulance Service (SMCAS), Bertrand Twp Fire Department, Berrien County Sheriff's Office Crash Unit and the Medical Examiner from Western Michigan School of Medicine in Kalamazoo.
