From staff reports

A Tallulah man died Friday morning after he lost control of his car and struck a tree while traveling east on U.S. 80, said a statement from the Louisiana State Police.

The wreck happened just outside the Tallulah city limits in Madison Parish.

Troopers investigating the one-vehicle crash reported Anthony L. Bibbs, 42, appeared to be driving a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am at a high rate of speed when it left the right side of the roadway at 6:45 a.m.

Bibbs’ car left the highway just beyond a posted 45 mph zone.

He was wearing a seat belt, and alcohol was not suspected as a factor in the wreck, said state police.

Bibbs was traveling alone and was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck by the Madison Parish Coroner’s Office. Calls to the coroner’s office for additional information were not returned Friday night.

Bibbs’ death was the first fatal wreck investigated by Louisiana State Police Troop F in 2009. The first fatal wreck of the year in Warren County occurred Wednesday, when an Eagle Lake man was killed in a single-vehicle crash along Mississippi 465.