A 71-year-old truck driver from Mansfield, Missouri, died Wednesday night after his truck ran off the road and overturned on U.S. 65 north of Buffalo, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The crash happened just before 9 p.m. near Victory Road, about 2.5 miles north of Buffalo in Dallas County, as the driver headed northbound in a 2007 Sterling L9500.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that the driver died after the truck left the right side of the roadway and rolled over, according to KY3. Dallas County Coroner Matt Wisdom pronounced the driver dead at the scene at 9:41 p.m., per patrol records tied to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. Whether the driver was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash was listed as unknown in the official report.
Troopers A.M. Jeffreys, B.S. Gunby and Z.B. Tate handled the on-scene investigation, and the heavily damaged truck was eventually towed by McDowell Wrecker of Springfield. The report offers no determination yet on what caused the truck to leave the roadway, whether mechanical failure, a medical episode, or road conditions, and that detail remains unresolved pending further investigative findings.
A Grim Milestone for Troop D
The crash marked the 88th traffic death recorded by Troop D so far in 2026, a pace that outstrips last year's toll. The patrol logged 159 total traffic fatalities across the troop's region in 2025 and 192 in 2023, meaning this year's count is already more than halfway to last year's full-year total with four months still to go.
Troop D, headquartered on Kearney Street in Springfield near U.S. 65, is the Highway Patrol's largest geographical command, covering 18 counties across southwestern Missouri, including Dallas County where Wednesday's crash occurred. The driver's hometown of Mansfield sits in Wright County along U.S. Highway 60, while Buffalo is in Dallas County.
A Corridor Already Slated for Safety Upgrades
U.S. 65 through Buffalo is no quiet backroad. The corridor is addressed in a Missouri Department of Transportation fact sheet.
The corridor has also been addressed in state transportation materials.
The crash involved a truck. No additional details about the cause of Wednesday's crash have been released, and the investigation remains open.
