MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — A Grand Bay man has died after a single-vehicle crash on Sunday, Sept. 13, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
Ned P. Vicknair, 68, died after the vehicle he was in left the road and struck a tree, an ALEA news release said.
He was transported to University Hospital, where he died on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Officials said the crash happened on Newman Road near Chelle Way just before 6 a.m. ALEA is continuing to investigate.
Why ALEA Investigates This Crash
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Highway Patrol Division handles crash investigations on state, U.S. and interstate highways, and on county roads in unincorporated areas where no municipal department has jurisdiction. Grand Bay is an unincorporated community in southwestern Mobile County, which places crashes on its roads with state troopers rather than a city police department.
ALEA’s practice in fatal crashes is to issue an initial release confirming the basic facts and to continue the investigation afterward. A reconstruction typically examines vehicle speed, roadway conditions, physical evidence at the scene and — in a single-vehicle crash — whether a medical event, roadway hazard, wildlife, vehicle failure or impairment contributed. Findings are generally not released until the investigation is complete.
Single-Vehicle Crashes and the Rural Road Problem
Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes account for a disproportionate share of traffic deaths in Alabama and nationally, and the reasons are largely geometric. Rural two-lane roads frequently have narrow or no shoulders, drainage ditches close to the travel lane and mature trees within a short distance of the pavement edge.
On a road like that, a vehicle that leaves the lane has very little recovery room before it encounters a fixed object. Federal traffic safety research has consistently found that roadside fixed-object collisions — trees most commonly among them — produce higher fatality rates than most other crash types, because the impact is concentrated and the object does not yield.
The early morning timing is also a known risk factor. Just before 6 a.m. in mid-September in coastal Alabama is before sunrise, with reduced visibility and, frequently, fog forming over low ground near the coast. Driver fatigue is also elevated in the pre-dawn hours.
What Is Not Yet Known
ALEA has not released the cause of the crash, whether other factors were involved, or whether anyone else was in the vehicle. The release stated that Vicknair died after the vehicle he was in left the road, language that does not specify whether he was the driver.
No additional information has been released while the investigation continues.
Grand Bay
Grand Bay is an unincorporated community in southwestern Mobile County, near the Mississippi state line and south of Interstate 10. The area is served by a network of two-lane county roads connecting residential areas, farmland and small commercial districts.
ALEA typically releases additional information in fatal crash cases once the investigation is complete.