POWELLSVILLE – A motorist from Johnston County was killed in a single vehicle crash near here Friday.

Allen Lee Sellers, 63, of Selma died at the scene of the accident, which occurred shortly after 12 noon on Hexlena Road (RP 1200) approximately 5.8 miles west of Powellsville.

Sellers was operating a 1999 Ford F-350 truck eastbound on Hexlena Road, near its intersection with Early’s Station Road at the time of the accident.

According to a report filed by North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper H.M. Mizelle, the truck traveled off the right side of the road, striking two driveway culverts in the process. The vehicle overturned after striking the second culvert. It then impacted a utility pole and a tree, coming to rest on its roof.

Mizelle’s report showed that Sellers was wearing a seat belt. He was trapped inside the vehicle.

As a contributing factor to the accident, the report showed that Sellers was operating his vehicle at a speed greater than the posted speed limit (45 mph) on that particular section of Hexlena Road.

“The driver was exceeding the posted speed limit, but it is not known at this time what caused the vehicle to travel off the roadway,” stated First Sgt. Rodney Sawyer of the Highway Patrol’s office in Ahoskie.

The fatality was the seventh of the year in the NCHP’s Troop A / District 2 area (Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties). Four of those fatalities have occurred this year in Bertie County.