A fatal accident killed a Bend resident Thursday morning when his brown Subaru station wagon collided with a semitrailer on Highway 20, about 14 miles east of Bend.

The vehicles collided about 9:45 a.m. in the westbound lane of Highway 20 near Horseridge Butte, about six miles east of Dodds Road, a Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy said.

The station wagon’s driver, Gregory Hugh Culbertson, 41, of Bend, was probably killed upon impact, according to Deputy John Diehl.

Culbertson did not seem to be wearing a seat belt, Diehl said.

Truck driver Jerry Gierl, 35, of Calgary, Alberta, was uninjured, he said.

The accident occurred when the station wagon, heading eastbound on Highway 20, crossed the center line and collided with the oncoming semitrailer.

”It was a near head-on collision,” Diehl said.

Diehl said the driver of the car may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

According to Diehl, Gierl said he saw the Subaru drift onto the right shoulder, then drift back into the eastbound lane and continue drifting until it crossed the center line.

There were no other witnesses to the accident, Diehl said.

Yoko Minoura can be reached at 541-383-0387 or at yminoura@bendbulletin.com.