The Florida Highway Patrol has now published an account of how Wednesday night's fatal crash on Cemetery Road happened, saying a Nissan crossed the centre line into the direct path of an oncoming Chevrolet and the two vehicles met head-on

The Florida Highway Patrol has published an account of how Wednesday evening's fatal crash at Cemetery Road and Dana Road happened, filling in the one thing that was missing from every report on it.

According to the patrol, at about 6.40 p.m. a Nissan Kicks driven by a 27 year old man was travelling west on Cemetery Road as it approached Dana Road. At the same moment a Chevrolet Suburban driven by a 43 year old man was travelling east on Cemetery Road, just past that junction. The patrol says the Nissan crossed the centre line and entered the direct path of the Chevrolet, and that the two vehicles then met head-on.

The driver of the Nissan was pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol says. It says the passengers in the Nissan, along with the driver and the passengers in the Chevrolet, were injured and taken to hospital. The account was given to Gulf Coast News, which added it to its report at 6.10 on Thursday morning.

What the account is, and what it is not

The patrol says in the same statement that the crash remains under investigation. Its description of two vehicles and their directions is an account of movement in an open inquiry. It is not a finding of fault, a determination of cause, a citation or a charge against anyone, and it is not treated as one here.

The driver the patrol describes as crossing the centre line is the person who died. Nothing has been published about why the Nissan left its lane, and nothing is guessed at here: no medical event, no speed, no road condition and no weather is asserted, because the patrol has offered none.

What is still not known

Nobody has been named. The patrol gave two ages, 27 for the driver who died and 43 for the driver of the Chevrolet, and nothing further. There is no count of how many people were in either vehicle, no condition for any of the injured, and no hospital named.

The figure of five injured, which has run with this story since Wednesday night, came from the Lee County Sheriff's Office by way of the newsrooms that reported it, not from the highway patrol. The patrol described who was hurt by which vehicle they were riding in and published no total.

The road

Cemetery Road reopened late on Wednesday, and the state dispatch board this desk has been watching now carries no entry at all for Lee County. There is no driving impact left from this crash.