A 54-year-old Flint woman died at the scene after her pickup truck collided head-on with another vehicle on Round Lake Road in Sherman Township on Monday evening, and the 40-year-old West Branch woman driving the other car was flown by helicopter with life-threatening injuries. Gladwin County Sheriff's deputies responded to the crash around 7:50 p.m., finding a 2010 Chevrolet Silverado and a 2015 Toyota Avalon that had collided near a curved stretch of the rural roadway.
According to the Huron Daily Tribune, Jennifer Smith was driving the Silverado southbound on Round Lake Road while Holly Mosely was headed northbound in the Avalon when the two vehicles struck each other head-on. Smith was pronounced dead at the scene, per Gladwin County Sheriff's Department Lt. Chad Smith, while Mosely was airlifted for medical treatment. Deputies pinpointed the collision as occurring roughly half a mile south of Pleasant View Drive, an area near lake residential communities in rural Gladwin County, according to Gladwin County Sheriff's Office records.
Emergency crews from MyMichigan Medical Center, Gladwin City Police, and Butman Township Fire and Rescue all assisted deputies at the scene, and the roadway was closed for several hours while crews worked. A Michigan State Police accident reconstructionist also evaluated the crash scene as investigators pieced together what happened on the curve.
Sheriff's Office Asks Public to Avoid Speculation Online
In the sheriff's office's press release on the crash, Lt. Chad Smith offered condolences to the victims' families and explicitly asked the public to refrain from posting derogatory comments on social media platforms regarding the loss of life, according to the Gladwin County Sheriff's Office. The office has issued similar requests following other recent fatal accidents in the county.
Smith said reports on the crash will go to the Gladwin County Prosecutor's Office for review once the investigation is complete. Under Michigan Vehicle Code sections MCL 257.601d and MCL 257.626, fatal crashes reviewed by prosecutors can result in charges ranging from a misdemeanor moving violation causing death, punishable by up to a year in jail, to felony reckless driving causing death, which carries up to 15 years in prison. Whether factors such as speed, lane departure, mechanical failure, or impairment contributed to the vehicles crossing the centerline on the curve remains an open question pending that investigation.
A Pattern on Round Lake Road
The location of the crash near a curved section of Round Lake Road mirrors prior fatal wrecks in the area. Almost exactly one year earlier, in August 2025, a 58-year-old Amish woman was killed on Round Lake Road in neighboring Butman Township when a Jeep Cherokee struck her horse-drawn buggy from behind, according to CBS News Detroit. That crash also triggered an extended road closure for crash reconstruction.
In June 2025, a 34-year-old Gladwin man died in Sherman Township after his vehicle lost control on a curved section of Adams Road near Hillcrest Road, left the roadway, and struck trees, per the Gladwin County Sheriff's Office. That earlier crash, like Monday's, involved a curved rural roadway within the same township, underscoring the navigation hazards those curves can pose.
Second Fatal Crash in Gladwin County This Month
Monday's collision came just one week after 28-year-old Beaverton man Austin McCulloch died in an ATV crash on McCulloch Road, as previously reported by Hoodline. With two fatal crashes hitting the county within a single week in August, local law enforcement agencies face heightened scrutiny over rural road conditions and driver behavior.
The cluster of fatalities lands against a backdrop of statewide traffic data. Michigan roadway fatalities actually dropped 3% in 2025 to 1,065 deaths, down from 1,099 in 2024, even as total statewide crashes rose slightly to 290,221, according to the Michigan State Police. Still, drug or alcohol involvement remained a factor in roughly 41% of all fatal Michigan crashes in recent years, with drug-involved fatalities reaching 272 in 2024.
Gladwin County itself recorded 761 total traffic crashes in 2023, including two fatalities and 80 injury crashes, per Michigan Traffic Crash Facts data. In December 2025, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning launched its SAFER by 2030 initiative, aiming to cut statewide traffic deaths by 30% by 2030 through stepped-up rural road enforcement and public awareness campaigns.
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