A 57-year-old Bunnell man is dead after his pickup truck drifted off U.S. 1, spun across both southbound lanes and slammed driver-side first into a tree just south of Education Way early Saturday morning. The Florida Highway Patrol says the crash happened shortly after midnight, and the driver was killed.
According to News4JAX, the pickup was traveling southbound on U.S. 1 when it drifted into the grassy median and ditch. The driver swerved back onto the roadway, but the truck began rotating clockwise, crossed both southbound lanes, entered the right shoulder, and its driver's-side door struck a standing tree. The vehicle came to rest facing northbound. FHP has not released the driver's name.
The crash occurred at approximately 12:04 a.m.
Other Fatal Crashes
An 81-year-old pedestrian was killed in a vehicle crash in Flagler County, according to a report citing FHP. Hoodline previously covered a separate fatal U.S. 1 crash in Bunnell earlier this month, when two vehicles struck a cyclist along the same roadway.
The Transportation Technology Transfer Center outlines methods for analyzing crashes involving trees. Flagler County has seen this scenario before: in March 2025, a truck veered into the woodline on I-95 and struck a tree, killing the driver, as reported by WKMG ClickOrlando.
Countywide Fatalities Trending Down, But Crashes Still Common
The Saturday crash arrives amid a broader, multi-year decline in Flagler County traffic deaths. The county recorded 18 traffic fatalities in 2025 and 16 in 2024, down from 24 in 2023 and 27 in 2022, according to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles data cited by FlaglerLive. Still, the county logged 1,932 total traffic crashes in 2024, per a regional analysis from the River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization, which has spurred local infrastructure plans focused on speed management and roadside shoulder safety.
Statewide, the trend has moved in a similar direction. Florida traffic crashes fell roughly 4% in 2025 to about 366,300, down from more than 381,000 in 2024, while statewide fatalities dropped from 2,891 to 2,773, according to ClickOrlando.
What Happens Next
FHP has not yet released the driver's name.
