Woman Dies In 5-Vehicle Crash On Highway 101 In Sonoma Co.

SANTA ROSA, CA – A 67-year-old Weed woman died in a five-vehicle collision on northbound U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Rosa that closed lanes for hours Wednesday evening, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Vicki Eileen Cole Caraway, of Weed in Siskiyou County, was killed in the collision that occurred around 5:20 p.m. on Highway 101 south of Mendocino Avenue, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

A 31-year-old Windsor man was driving a 1997 Ford E-250 van at about 70 mph when he noticed the Weed driver's 2015 Honda Civic completely stopped ahead of him and he applied his brakes but could not stop.

The van's rear-end collision pushed the Honda Civic into the back of a 1998 Honda Accord driven by a Windsor resident and the Accord collided with another Honda Civic driven by a Santa Rosa man.

"The force of the impact to (the Civic) caused it to rotate partially in a counter clockwise fashion into the left rear of a Ford Focus being driven by (a woman) of Rohnert Park," the CHP said.

The Weed woman was pronounced dead at the scene by the Santa Rosa Fire Department. The collisions closed two northbound Highway 101 lanes for about three hours.

Sloat said the Ford van and 2015 Civic were impounded for evidence, and drugs or alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash at this time.

The CHP is asking any witnesses to the collision to call their Santa Rosa-area office at (707) 588-1400.

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--Bay City News contributed to this report/Shutterstock image