A 35-year-old woman was killed in a one-car accident Tuesday afternoon in southeast Franklin County, authorities said today.

Christina A. Kirkland, of Rantoul, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred shortly before 2:54 p.m. Tuesday about a mile west of Rantoul in the 4300 block of Rock Creek Road, said Franklin County Sheriff Craig A. Davis.

Davis said Kirkland was driving her 1999 Mercury Mystique east on Rock Creek Road and passing a vehicle driven by Joe Schweiger, rural Osawatomie, when the left tires of her car went off the north side of the road, causing her to lose control. The car then struck a tree on the north side of the road, Davis said.

Kirkland was pronounced dead at the scene by W.B. Ransom, the Franklin County coroner.

Kirkland was taken to Dengel & Son Mortuary in Ottawa. She was the first traffic fatality in Franklin County this year, Davis said.