It's late winter. Usually at that time the roads in the area are pretty beat up, and there's a fine assortment of mangled automotive parts and accessories on the shoulders.
Either might have caused either the driver or the walker to alter their path.
That's one theory. I believe it might have raining at the time as well, but am not sure. Also, the possibility alcohol use by either the driver or pedestrian should be considered, as I previously mentioned. (The pedestrian was returning from a "convenience store". What did he buy there?) We obviously don't know all the details from what we've been told by the AP story posted.