A 78-year-old man died Thursday morning after the SUV he was driving struck the roof of a home in east Macon, an impact so severe that crews later had to use a crane to lift the vehicle back down. Willie H. Smith Jr. was pronounced dead at a hospital following the crash near the intersection of Waverland Drive and Woodland Drive.
According to 13WMAZ, Smith was traveling east in a white Chevrolet Equinox before he lost control and the vehicle ended up on the roof of a residence in the 1900 block of Woodland Drive. A representative for the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said Smith apparently lost control of the SUV, though the exact cause remains under investigation, as reported by FOX5 Vegas.
Paramedics rendered emergency medical assistance at the scene before Smith was taken to a hospital, where Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones pronounced him deceased. The same report notes that no residents or bystanders inside or near the house reported injuries, and it remained unclear whether anyone was home at the time of impact.
Crane Needed to Remove SUV From Rooftop
The force of the crash left the vehicle lodged on the roof, requiring crews to bring in a crane to remove it, according to the FOX5 Vegas report, which credited CNN Newsource for its account of the scene. It's a detail that underscores just how unusual the collision was for a residential intersection with no bridge, hill, or drop-off nearby.
Deputies are still trying to determine what caused Smith to lose control of the SUV in the first place. As reported by WSB-TV, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about the crash to call its Fatality Investigator at 478-751-7500. Preliminary releases have not specified whether a mechanical failure or a medical event played a role, leaving open questions about exactly how the SUV gained enough momentum to strike a rooftop.
Senior Drivers and Georgia's Licensing Rules
Smith's age has drawn attention to how Georgia handles older drivers at the DMV counter. Under Georgia Code § 40-5-32, the state requires all drivers 64 and older to pass an eyesight exam administered by the state or an eye care professional every time they renew their license, according to Justia Law. The Georgia Department of Driver Services requires non-commercial drivers to demonstrate visual acuity of at least 20/60 in one eye and a horizontal visual field of at least 140 degrees to keep their license, with those who fail an in-person test allowed to submit a signed Vision Report Form from an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
Statewide, drivers 55 and older account for roughly 31% of all traffic fatalities in Georgia, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health, even though this age group statistically wears seatbelts more often and drives under the influence less frequently than younger drivers. The department attributes the disproportionate fatality rate in part to age-related physical fragility, which raises the risk of dying in high-impact collisions.
A Rare but Not Isolated Kind of Crash
Crashes in which a vehicle plows into a building are more common nationally than many drivers realize. Research compiled by the Storefront Safety Council estimates that up to 100 vehicles crash into commercial or residential buildings every day across the country, resulting in roughly 16,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths annually, per data cited by Blockaides. Drivers over 60 are involved in nearly 40% of those vehicle-into-building crashes nationwide, with pedal error and operator miscalculation among the most commonly cited causes.
Locally, the crash adds to a string of serious collisions Macon-Bibb County has seen this year, including a multi-vehicle wreck on Eisenhower Parkway in May that killed a 38-year-old driver, as reported by The Telegraph. Even so, county-wide crash numbers have been trending downward: total vehicle collisions in Macon-Bibb dropped from 10,506 in 2019 to 7,957 in 2025, according to the county's August Complete Streets report covered by Macon Newsroom. Despite that broader improvement, severe and fatal wrecks like the one on Woodland Drive continue to draw close attention from local law enforcement and traffic safety officials.
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