A 23-year-old Plant City man is dead after the pickup truck he was driving crossed the center median on State Road 60, cut across oncoming traffic, and flipped into a tree line bordering the road. The crash happened around 3 p.m. Sunday near Smith Ryals Road in eastern Hillsborough County, and emergency crews rushed the driver to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
According to Tampa Free Press, the man was driving a Chevy pickup truck eastbound on SR-60 when he lost control of the vehicle, per troopers. The truck crossed the median, left the roadway, cut across the westbound lanes, and flipped over into the tree line. No other vehicles or passengers were involved, and authorities have not released the driver's name.
Cause Still Under Investigation
The cause of Sunday's crash remains under investigation, the outlet's report notes. Florida Highway Patrol's specialized Traffic Homicide Investigation unit typically handles fatal crashes like this one. The driver's identity has not yet been made public.
A Stretch of Road With a Troubled History
Sunday's wreck is far from the first fatal loss-of-control crash near Smith Ryals Road. In May 2023, a 51-year-old Plant City man died in a single-vehicle pickup truck crash on SR-60 near the same road after losing control and striking a guardrail, as reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay. A year earlier, in May 2022, a 30-year-old Plant City man was killed when a box truck struck his pickup truck and its driver near Smith Ryals Road, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The intersection has also seen non-fatal wrecks. In July 2019, a fleeing-suspect incident led to a double rollover crash at SR-60 and Smith Ryals Road, hospitalizing three occupants after a vehicle blew through a stop sign into traffic, per the Plant City Observer. More recently, a local incident log on Citizen recorded an emergency dispatch response in April 2026 for a vehicle collision with injuries along the 1800 block of East State Road 60.
Rollovers and Pickup Trucks
Rollover crashes can be deadly. Recent crashes near Smith Ryals Road have included pickup trucks.
Hillsborough County has seen fatal traffic crashes in recent years.
Sunday's crash follows an April rollover near Horton Road that killed a pedestrian and driver.
