Police say woman was not wearing lap belt at the time of the
accident early Sunday morning at Fairview and Fallon roads
Hollister – A Los Banos woman died after losing control of her car, running off the road and being ejected from her vehicle early Sunday morning on Fairview Road just north of Fallon Road, according to police.
Stacey De Maio, 35, was driving northbound on Fairview Road near Fallon Road in Hollister shortly after 3am when she lost control of her late-model Nissan sedan, according to California Highway Patrol Information Officer Chris Armstrong.
CHP officers do not know why she lost control of the car or if she had been drinking, Armstrong said. Although the accident is still under investigation, Armstrong said De Maio was wearing only an automatic shoulder belt and was not wearing the lap belt.
Although the driver’s side airbag deployed, De Maio was flung from the vehicle and died from her injuries, according to the CHP. No one witnessed the accident and investigators are struggling to piece together the details of the incident, Armstrong said.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time seat belts save lives,” Armstrong said. “The myth that not wearing a seat belt can save you has never been proven.”
The car rolled over several times and sustained major damage, according to Armstrong. Officers did not arrive on scene until nearly four hours after the accident because the car, which had traveled nearly 200 feet from the road, could not be seen from the road in the dark, according to Bryan Penney, a detective with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department. A near-by resident called in the accident, he said.
A later autopsy revealed that De Maio died on impact from blunt force trauma after being thrown about 20 feet from the car during the roll over, Penney said. Police believe De Maio was driving home to Los Banos at the time of the accident, but do not know where she was coming from, Penney said.
De Maio’s family could not be reached for comment Monday.
The intersection at Fairview and Fallon roads is ranked one of the 10 most dangerous intersections in San Benito County, according to county traffic data. Over the last two years there have been at least three fatal accidents near that intersection. County officials recently finished a $460,000 safety improvement project at that intersection by installing left turn lanes so both the northbound and southbound traffic can turn left onto Fallon Road, said Arman Nazemi, assistant director of the San Benito County Public Works Department.
“That intersection has been improved immensely – it has much better visibility now,” he said. “But Fairview Road is a major road used by many residents in the county and it’s a high-speed road despite the 55mph speed limit. Most of the accidents on that road are related to people driving at unsafe speeds.”
CHP officers do not know how fast De Maio was driving at the time of the accident, according to Armstrong.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
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