Accident on U.S. 40 claims life of Clayton woman
BELLEVILLE -- A Hendricks County woman was fatally injured in a one-vehicle accident on U.S. 40 west of Plainfield, the Hendricks County Sheriff's Department reported.
At approximately 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Hendricks County Sheriff's deputies received a call of a motor vehicle crash in the 3800 block of East U.S. 40. Upon arrival, deputies located the 2004 Pontiac van inverted in the eastbound lanes of the highway.
The female driver, later identified as Laura Thomas, 54, of Clayton, had been ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The preliminary investigation indicates Thomas had been traveling westbound on U.S. 40 when her vehicle went into the grass median before striking a culvert.
At the point the vehicle struck the culvert, the vehicle rolled and rotated before coming to rest on its top in the eastbound lanes.
The incident was a single-vehicle accident and no one else was inside the vehicle at the time of the crash, authorities said.
The precise reason for the vehicle traveling off the roadway is still under investigation, however, alcohol is not suspected as a contributing factor to the crash, police said.