A 94-year-old man was killed Tuesday evening after losing control of his vehicle in cloudy weather in Columbia County, state police say.
The wreck happened at 5:06 p.m. when Herbert D. Turner of Magnolia was driving on Arkansas 98 east of U.S. 79, authorities said in a preliminary report that marked the 500th roadway death in Arkansas so far this year.
Turner traveled off a curve of the highway while driving west in a 2009 Chevrolet HHR and struck a guardrail, said Troop G Capt. Brady Gore with the state Highway Patrol.
Authorities said Turner was pronounced dead shortly before 6 p.m. at the scene by the Columbia County coroner.
[FATAL WRECKS: Complete coverage of deadly crashes across Arkansas so far this year]
A Magnolia boy, whose age was not released, was injured in the crash and taken to Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado, Gore said.
His exact condition was not known as of Wednesday morning.
With the 500th crash death reported Tuesday night, the number of fatal wrecks so far this year on Arkansas roads is on par with figures reported at the same point in 2015, preliminary records show.
Last year, the death toll reached that point Dec. 1, 2015. By the year's end in 2015, 534 in-state roadway fatalities were reported by state police.
The two previous years saw year-end totals below the 500 threshold — 469 in 2014 and 499 in 2013.
Despite the uptick in 2015 and 2016, those figures are still lower than a trend spanning at least 12 years in which Arkansas had more than 550 fatal wrecks annually between 2001 and 2012.