A daytime drive along M-115 in rural Clare County turned tragic Monday when an SUV crossed the centerline and smashed head-on into a semi-trailer, killing an 87-year-old Livonia woman and leaving the driver of the SUV with severe injuries.
Crash details
The passenger has been identified as Ina Crawford, 87, of Livonia, who died from injuries she suffered in the collision. She was riding in a Chevrolet Equinox driven by 75-year-old John Peterson, also of Livonia, when the SUV crossed the centerline on M-115 near Ashard Road in Freeman Township and hit a white Kenmore semi-truck head-on, according to MLive.
Emergency crews had to extricate Peterson from the wrecked SUV before he was airlifted to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. The semi’s driver, a 37-year-old man from Cadillac, was not hurt.
First responders and investigation
Clare County Central Dispatch received reports of the crash around 11:38 a.m. Deputies from the Clare County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene along with Lincoln Township and Surrey Township fire departments and Mobile Medical Response ambulance crews.
The wreck “remains under investigation,” MLive reported.
Why it matters
Crashes involving passenger vehicles and large trucks are often brutally unforgiving for people in the smaller vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that about 5,340 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks in 2024, with occupants of other vehicles making up most of those deaths, according to NHTSA.
That stark pattern is a big reason investigators scrutinize centerline crossings on rural two-lane state highways like M-115, where one brief drift into oncoming traffic can have life-and-death consequences.
