Wet roads and unsafe speeds left a man dead Saturday morning
after he flipped a convertible on Highway 152 west of Dinosaur
Point, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Hollister – Wet roads and unsafe speeds left a man dead Saturday morning after he flipped a convertible on Highway 152 west of Dinosaur Point, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office was unable to confirm the crash victim’s identity Monday, whom the CHP listed in a report as a 59-year-old Aptos man.
The first wet spell this rain season may have made road conditions less safe, said officer Chris Armstrong, a public information officer for the Hollister-Gilroy area office of the CHP.
“An additional factor could be the first rain and the oils on the road, making it a slippery surface,” Armstrong said.
Officers reported that the tires of the 1997 Jaguar the man was driving had “inadequate tread depth.” The car hit a dirt embankment at about 7:55am Saturday, coming to rest on its roof on westbound Highway 152, the CHP reported.
The man was wearing a seatbelt and died from head injuries, officers reported.
“It was a convertible,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the driver crashed while on a downhill curve at an unsafe speed. A witness told officers that the man passed him, Armstrong said.
Highway 152 was closed for about two hours while officers investigated the crash site, the CHP reported. Investigators did not know if alcohol was involved as of press time Monday.
There have been 20 crashes this year on the two-mile stretch of Highway 152 west of the Santa Clara-Merced County line near Dinosaur Point, according to the CHP. The crash Saturday was the first fatal this year on that stretch of highway, Armstrong said.
