Two people were killed and two others suffered major injuries
from a collision Monday afternoon at the intersection of Highway 25
and Highway 156. They were the first fatalities on Highway 25 since
2002.
Two people were killed and two others suffered major injuries from a collision Monday afternoon at the intersection of Highway 25 and Highway 156. They were the first fatalities on Highway 25 since 2002.
Officer Chris Armstrong of the Hollister-Gilroy California Highway Patrol said he did not know the names of the deceased. Both were riding in a white Dodge Neon headed east on Highway 156, he said. A tan Mazda MPV southbound on Highway 25 struck the Dodge as it crossed the intersection.
“We don’t know which vehicle entered the intersection, likely on a red light,” Armstrong said.
There were two others in the Dodge, he said, and both were flown to area hospitals to be treated for their injuries. The survivors in the Dodge sustained “major injuries,” said Ken French, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, while at the scene.
One of the deceased was male, the other female, French said.
The two occupants of the Mazda were uninjured, Armstrong said. It’s “uncertain” whether any drugs or alcohol were involved, he said.
The CHP directed traffic around the accident site and temporarily closed Highway 156 east of the intersection.
Highway 25 had been known historically as a particularly dangerous stretch of road, but five years had passed since its last fatality, Armstrong noted.
“We attribute a lot of that success to the engineering and reconfiguration, as well as stepped-up enforcement,” he said.
The highway now features double yellow lines and “rumble strips” down the middle, as well as no-passing signs, Armstrong said.
“This accident was due to the intersection, rather than the highway,” he added.
