A 32-year-old Heflin woman was killed and a 7-year-old child was hurt early Friday when their car collided head-on with another vehicle on a rural stretch of Alabama Highway 46, just outside Cleburne County's main east-west corridor. Mary K. Sanders died at the scene, according to state authorities, while the child passenger and the driver of the other vehicle were both taken to hospitals for treatment.
The crash happened around 5:27 a.m. Friday on Highway 46 about seven miles east of Heflin, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, as reported by Alabama's 42. Sanders was driving a Nissan Versa that struck a Cadillac XTS head-on, and the child riding with her in the Versa was transported to an area hospital following the collision. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency reported the collision near the 13-mile marker of the highway, as noted by the Calhoun Journal, placing it just east of Heflin in Cleburne County.
The driver of the Cadillac has since been identified as 55-year-old Lorenzo Swink of Anniston. He survived the crash with injuries and was transported to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston for treatment, per the same account from the Calhoun Journal. That hospital is a 308-bed acute care facility that serves a five-county region of East Alabama, including both Cleburne and Calhoun counties, according to the American Hospital Directory.
Troopers From Jacksonville Post Leading Investigation
State troopers assigned to ALEA's Highway Patrol Division Jacksonville Post are handling the ongoing crash investigation, according to a release from Turkey Heaven Volunteer Fire Department. That post covers state highway accidents across Calhoun and Cleburne counties, and its troopers hold primary jurisdiction over crash investigations across nearly 69,500 miles of rural roadway statewide, per the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's own description of its Highway Patrol Division. What caused the vehicles to collide head-on before dawn Friday has not yet been disclosed.
The crash also fell at the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend, a stretch when ALEA typically ramps up trooper patrols statewide to monitor traffic and enforce road safety, the agency has noted. Anyone involved in the crash, or members of the public, can request the official crash report, according to the Serious Injury Law Group.
Highway Was Mid-Overhaul When Crash Occurred
Highway 46 runs 21 miles entirely within Cleburne County, connecting U.S. Route 78 in Heflin eastward to the Georgia state line near Ranburne, according to Wikipedia's entry on the route. As of last month, the Alabama Department of Transportation reported ongoing progress on a $3.5 million resurfacing and “road diet” safety project covering a 10-mile stretch of the highway between CR-620 and the Georgia line, with plans for lane reductions, wider travel lanes, dedicated turn lanes, and added guardrails.
It remains unclear whether construction activity or roadway conditions tied to that project played any role in Friday's crash. The exact cause of the head-on collision, including questions of speed, lane departure, or visibility in the pre-dawn hours, has not been determined publicly. The condition of the injured 7-year-old passenger has also not been disclosed.
