A 65-year-old Columbiaville woman died Saturday after her SUV pulled into the path of a northbound pickup truck at a rural Lapeer County intersection, leaving her 42-year-old daughter hospitalized and investigators combing the scene for answers. Lynn Goss was pronounced dead at the site of the crash, which happened at the intersection of N. Lapeer Road, also known as M-24, and Hickory Place Drive.
According to Mid-Michigan Now, Goss was driving a 2012 Dodge Journey westbound on Hickory Place Drive and had stopped at the stop sign at N. Lapeer Road before entering the intersection, which has no control devices governing M-24 traffic. Authorities say she pulled directly into the path of a northbound 2008 Dodge 2500 series pickup truck driven by a 36-year-old Fostoria man, who had a 34-year-old Fostoria woman riding with him. The impact was classified as a broadside collision, and both vehicles left the intersection's northeast quadrant after impact.
Goss had her own 42-year-old daughter, also of Columbiaville, riding as a passenger in her SUV. That daughter was transported to McLaren Lapeer Region by Lapeer County EMS and was listed in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, Mid-Michigan Now reported. The pickup truck's two occupants were not injured, authorities said.
Fire Crews Needed Hydraulic Tools to Free Victims
Deerfield Township Fire Department crews used hydraulic extrication tools to free occupants trapped in the wreckage. Deerfield Township Fire & Rescue was among 11 Lapeer County fire departments that responded to a fire, according to the Tri-City Times.
Investigators said moisture on the driver's side windows of Goss's vehicle may have played a role in the crash, though the report did not elaborate further on that detail. Authorities also indicated that alcohol and excessive speed did not appear to be factors in the collision.
Multi-Agency Reconstruction Effort Underway
The crash investigation is being led by Lapeer County Sheriff's deputies, who were assisted by Deerfield Township Fire and Rescue, the Michigan State Police Lapeer Post, the Lapeer County Reconstruction Team, the Lapeer County Road Commission, and the Metamora Township Police drone team. That drone unit, established in September 2023, was Lapeer County's first law enforcement aerial program and has been deployed to assist the sheriff's office with aerial site mapping on serious crash investigations, per the same account from Lapeer Area View on the department's origins.
The Lapeer County Reconstruction Team and the sheriff's office routinely conduct technical collision analysis and forensic scene mapping for severe multi-vehicle accidents across the county's townships, evaluating vehicle dynamics, impact angles, and physical roadway evidence, the Tri-City Times has reported separately.
A Dangerous Pattern Along M-24
This is not the first deadly crash along this stretch of M-24 in recent memory. In March 2025, a 61-year-old Lapeer Community Schools elementary teacher was killed in a two-vehicle collision on the highway in nearby Metamora Township when an oncoming vehicle crossed the centerline, according to The County Press. That crash also required hydraulic extrication tools and shut down the highway for hours.
M-24 functions as a primary regional thoroughfare in Lapeer County, carrying heavy daily commuter and freight traffic that connects Lapeer, Oakland, Genesee, and St. Clair counties, according to traffic safety monitoring cited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. High vehicle volumes on trunklines like M-24 can make it especially difficult for motorists entering from stop-controlled side streets, a dynamic researchers say increases collision risk at unsignalized rural crossings.
Statewide, Michigan recorded 288,880 crashes that resulted in 1,099 deaths in 2024, according to data compiled by Koussan Law.
The Michigan Department of Transportation's FY 2026-2029 State Transportation Improvement Program includes reconstruction and safety projects along M-24 in Lapeer County, including a $3 million boulevard reconstruction phase between Dryden Road and Pratt Road, according to state planning documents. It remains unclear whether any planned improvements would directly affect the Hickory Place Drive intersection where Goss was killed.
Other serious crashes investigated by the same county reconstruction team illustrate the broader risks on Lapeer County roadways. In August 2025, a fatal broadside collision occurred on I-69 in the county's Attica Township when a vehicle crossed the median and was struck by a pickup truck, prompting a three-hour expressway closure while investigators worked the scene, the Tri-City Times reported at the time.
