Another Deadly Crash on Highway 101, CHP Says Wrong-Way Driver to Blame

California Highway Patrol officers are investigating another deadly crash on Highway 101; this one, involving a wrong-way driver who slammed into a big rig late Monday night.

California Highway Patrol officers responded at 11:20 p.m. to a collision in the slow lane of southbound Highway 101 involving the semi truck and a Honda Civic, CHP Officer Andrew Barclay said.

“Our investigation indicates that the Honda was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of US-101 between the Central San Rafael off ramp and Lincoln Avenue on ramp, at freeway speeds, as the semi-truck was traveling southbound in the southbound lanes approaching Central San Rafael,” Barclay said in a news release.

The big-rig driver, a 58-year-old Willits man, was unable to stop when he saw the Honda heading directly toward him and could not veer left into another lane because another vehicle was next to him, Barclay said.

There were no reports before the collision about a vehicle traveling the wrong way on the highway, indicating the Honda driver was driving the wrong way for a only short period of time, Barclay said.

“Investigators would like to speak with the driver of the unknown vehicle which was traveling next to the truck at the time of the collision as they may be able to provide valuable witness information regarding the collision,” he said, adding that and witnesses to the collision are asked to call the CHP at (415) 924-1100.

Meanwhile, the Marin County coroner’s office is trying to contact the next of kin of a man who died in a wrong-way driving collision on U.S. Highway 101 in San Rafael late Monday night.

Chief Deputy Coroner Darrell Harris said the deceased driver is not a Marin County resident, and it may take a few days before his next of kin are notified. An autopsy is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

The collision closed the three right lanes of southbound Highway 101 between North San Pedro Road and Central San Rafael, Barclay said.

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— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.  Image via Shutterstock.