A Northville woman was critically injured Saturday afternoon after crashing her car in Oakland Township after passing other vehicles on Gunn Road, authorities said.
The 77-year-old woman was taken to Henry Ford Rochester Hospital after the 5 p.m. crash, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office reported.
A 12-year-old passenger, who is from Bruce Township in Macomb County, was hot hurt.
Neither drugs or alcohol are suspected of being involved, but the sheriff’s office said “speed is believed to be a contributing factor.”
Deputies were called to East Gunn Road east of Cook Court at 4:57 p.m. with a report of a single-vehicle crash with a driver trapped inside. The area is east of Rochester Road and west of Mt. Vernon Road, north of Snell Road. In the area Gunn Road curves northward with a short distance of east-west and then another southward curve.
“Preliminary investigation indicates a 2016 Volvo XC70 was traveling eastbound on East Gunn Road approaching a curve when the driver, a 77-year-old woman from Northville, attempted to pass other vehicles at a high rate of speed,” the sheriff’s office reported. “As she maneuvered around traffic, she swerved to avoid a bicyclist who was traveling westbound on East Gunn Road. The vehicle subsequently lost control, left the roadway and struck a tree.”
According to images on Google Maps, that portion of Gunn Road is unpaved.
The trapped driver was extricated by emergency responders.
The crash investigation, which is ongoing, involved the sheriff’s office using a drone to provide mapping the scene.