A stopped line of traffic on U.S. 301 near County Road 652 turned deadly Saturday night when a pickup truck slammed into the back of it, setting off a chain-reaction crash that killed two children and a 53-year-old woman. The collision happened around 7:45 p.m. in Sumter County and left three other drivers hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Tampa Free Press, a 61-year-old Bushnell man had stopped a Nissan NV van in the northbound lane of U.S. 301 while waiting to turn left onto County Road 652. Behind him, a 53-year-old Bushnell woman had stopped her Jeep Compass, and behind her, a 54-year-old Bushnell man was driving a Ford F-150. That pickup struck the rear of the woman's Jeep, the report states, pushing it into the stopped van ahead.
Jeep Rolls Into Oncoming Lane
The impact sent the Jeep Compass rolling over into the southbound lane of U.S. 301, directly into the path of oncoming traffic, the outlet reported. A 32-year-old Spring Hill man driving a second Jeep Compass southbound then struck the overturned vehicle, unable to avoid the wreckage in the roadway.
Inside the rolled Jeep were an 11-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, both of whom died at the scene, per the same report. The 53-year-old Bushnell woman who had been driving the Jeep was taken to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The three surviving drivers involved in the crash were all taken to area hospitals with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
Identities Withheld as Investigation Continues
As of the latest reporting, the Florida Highway Patrol had not released the names of those involved in the crash. No further details on citations or the cause of the initial rear-end collision have been made public.
The crash adds to a troubling pattern of deadly wrecks along the U.S. 301 corridor in Sumter County. Fatal crash data compiled from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows the county recorded 166 fatal crashes and 186 fatalities between 2017 and 2023, according to farsapi.com, which draws on federal data updated annually.
A Highway With a Grim History
Other fatal wrecks have occurred elsewhere in the region in recent years. In September 2025, a Webster man riding a motorcycle was killed on U.S. 301 in Hernando County after a northbound Kia Sorento turned left into his path; he struck the Kia, was thrown from his bike, and then struck a northbound Jeep Cherokee, according to Villages-News.com.
In June 2024, a nearly head-on crash on U.S. 301 near County Road 700 killed a 49-year-old Dade City man around 9:45 p.m., closing the highway from County Road 650 to County Road 652A before it reopened, as reported by ClickOrlando. And in 2020, two teenagers died after their sedan crossed the median at high speed near the U.S. 301 and County Road 216 intersection and struck a pickup truck, Villages-News.com reported separately, citing a Florida Highway Patrol accident report. That same intersection had also seen a motorcyclist suffer a broken leg in 2016 and several people, including Villages residents, seriously injured in a 2015 crash, per the outlet's report.
The same 2020 crash near County Road 216 killed two teenagers after a driver lost control, crossed the median, and hit a truck in the southbound lanes, according to WFLA. The broader corridor has repeatedly produced severe and fatal wrecks over the past decade.
