Investigators said a cup of coffee could have caused a crash
that closed U.S. 101 for two hours Friday and injured a Mountain
View man.
Investigators said a cup of coffee could have caused a crash that closed U.S. 101 for two hours Friday and injured a Mountain View man.
Investigators with the California Highway Patrol said the midday accident just north of the Highway 25 off-ramp may have been caused by a truck driver who took his eyes off the road as he reached for a cup of coffee.
The 12:05 p.m. accident happened when a 1997 Peterbilt tractor-trailer rig driven by Thomas Hooper, 32, of Bakersfield was traveling south on U.S. 101 at about 55 mph, the CHP said.
As Hooper approached the Highway 25 interchange he reportedly looked away from traffic to grab his coffee cup. When he looked up, traffic ahead of him was coming to an abrupt stop, the CHP said.
Hooper slammed on his brakes and veered to the left in an attempt to avoid a crash, investigators said. But he drove directly in front of a 1998 Volvo station wagon driven by Skip Steinke, 36, of Mountain View, the CHP said.
Steinke tried to stop, but his car struck a fuel tank on Hooper’s big rig as both vehicles skidded through the concrete center divider and off the road, coming to a stop in the northbound lanes of U.S. 101, the CHP said.
Fragments of concrete from the shattered divider were flung into the roadway and some of the larger pieces struck a southbound 1997 Freightliner tractor-trailer rig driven by Genaro Rodriguez, 43, of Freedom, the CHP said.
The accident forced the closure of northbound U.S. 101 as emergency crews cleared the roadway of debris and an ambulance transported Steinke to St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, where he was treated for complaint of pain and later released, the CHP said.
No one was arrested or cited for the crash, which is still under investigation, the CHP said.
