PHOTO BY JIM LOWE The driver of this preowned Mazda pickup escaped injury Wednesday morning when the vehicle he was test-driving was involved in a rollover on County Road 2200. A 2003 Mazda B2300 two-door pickup was totaled Wednesday morning northwest of town during a rollover on County Road 2200.

Trooper IV Patrick McElroy of the Texas Highway Patrol in Burnet was dispatched to the scene at 8:53 a.m. The accident occurred one mile off U.S. Highway 281.

Branden Benoist of Lampasas, an employee of a local automobile dealership, was test-driving the used pickup and heard a knock in the front end of the vehicle, McElroy said.

The eastbound Mazda veered slightly off the road, the driver overcorrected, and the vehicle rolled over onto its roof facing eastward.

Benoist was not hurt, McElroy said. The sole occupant in the vehicle, Benoist was wearing a seat belt, the Lampasas auto dealership's service manager said.

The pickup was towed from the scene.

McElroy said the vehicle was not traveling fast at the time of the accident. "If he was going any slower, he probably would have slid off (the road)," McElroy said.

Referring to vegetation on a fence line on one side of the roadway, McElroy added: "If he was going fast, he probably would have been in that cedar tree."

A possible contributing factor in the accident was a defective steering mechanism, while the main contributing factor was faulty evasive action, he said.