Riverview woman dead after single-car crash on U.S. Highway 301

RIVERVIEW — A 71-year-old woman is dead after losing control of her car when she tried to avoid a collision Wednesday evening, officials said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Allie Mae Preston of Riverview was traveling south on U.S. 301 at 5:56 p.m. when she steered left to avoid colliding with a car that was entering the highway at Dawns Light Drive north of Symmes Road.

Preston lost control of her car, which traveled across the median and onto the shoulder of the northbound lanes of the highway, before hitting a fence and a tree, the Highway Patrol said.

The car overturned and came to rest. Preston was transported to Tampa General Hospital, where she died from her injuries.

Preston was the mother of former Major League Baseball outfielder Carl Everett of Tampa, who played on the 2005 Chicago White Sox team that won the World Series.