Michelle Lee Herman, a 61-year-old Birmingham woman, was killed early Sunday morning when the vehicle she was driving collided with another car in the 4400 block of East Lake Boulevard. The crash happened around 5:01 a.m., according to initial reports on the incident.
Herman died at the scene, though accounts differ on exactly how long it took. WBRC reports she was pronounced dead just over 30 minutes after the crash, while a report from Yahoo News states she was pronounced dead at the scene about 40 minutes later. The discrepancy has not been resolved in available reporting.
The same Yahoo News account notes that the Birmingham Police Department started investigating the crash, though it does not detail a cause. A separate report from al.com confirms that Herman died Sunday morning following the two-vehicle crash on East Lake Boulevard.
A Sunday Morning Pattern in Alabama Crash Data
Herman's death adds to a grim statistical backdrop for early-morning and weekend driving in Alabama. State data shows that in 2024, Sundays were the second-deadliest day of the week on Alabama roads, with 132 traffic fatalities statewide, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation's 2024 Traffic Crash Facts Booklet. That same year, the agency recorded 28 fatalities in crashes that began specifically at 5:00 a.m., the hour closest to when Herman's crash occurred.
Statewide, Alabama logged 140,118 crashes, 36,601 injuries and 967 fatalities in 2024, per the same report from the Alabama Department of Transportation. The data also shows a pattern that cuts against assumptions about where crashes turn deadly: most Alabama crashes, 76 percent, occurred in urban areas, but most fatalities, 58 percent, happened in rural ones.
Jefferson County's Toll
Closer to home, Jefferson County itself recorded 103 traffic fatalities in 2024, eight of which involved apparent alcohol or drug involvement, according to the state transportation agency's figures.
The Birmingham Police Department's investigation into the crash remains active, and no further details on citations, charges or an investigative outcome have been reported.
