Police identify man killed in Route 29 crash near Centreville

(Updated at 5:45 p.m.) Speed was likely a factor in yesterday’s fatal two-car crash on Route 29, the Fairfax County Police Department says.

Sohail Iqbal, 30, of Manassas died at the scene after the driver of a 2013 BMW M3 plowed into his Hyundai Sonata around 12:24 a.m. at the intersection of Route 29 and Clifton Road, just outside Centreville, the police department reported today (Wednesday).

The BMW driver was taken to a hospital with injuries considered life-threatening. The driver is still in the hospital, as of this afternoon, the FCPD confirmed.

The BMW was traveling at a speed that’s believed to have contributed to the seriousness of the crash, according to police.

“Detectives continue to investigate to determine if alcohol was a factor in the crash,” the FCPD said.

According to the FCPD, a preliminary investigation by its Crash Reconstruction Unit detectives indicates that the BMW driver was headed south on Stringfellow Road when they collided with the Hyundai, which was traveling south on Route 29.

“The collision forced the Hyundai across the intersection, onto the embankment, and into a concrete utility pole foundation,” the FCPD said.

The crash damaged the pole, requiring repairs to a traffic signal that blocked lanes on Route 29 until around 4:20 p.m. that day, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. Scanner traffic indicated that the BMW ended up in a 7-Eleven parking lot (13305 Route 29) just over the border in Clifton.

Iqbal appears to be the 39th person killed in a traffic crash in Fairfax County this year, nine of them pedestrians, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data. There were 66 fatalities in 2022 — the most since the database launched in 2010.

The FCPD says there have been 19 fatal vehicular crashes in 2023 so far, matching the number seen last year.

Image via VDOT/Twitter