Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 11:20:02 -0500
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Subject: Santa Barbara Vanagon Crash, Wrong Way Driving
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Scozzaro hasn't much online footprint and doesn't
seem to have been on our lists (at least, not without an alias).
When our children are 70, we will have alarms
built into the vehicle that will go off if you
are going the wrong way down a major highway.
I drove 5 miles up the wrong direction on the
Taconic parkway in NY State in 1975 before I
started to question why the center line in the highway was always dotted.
I always wonder what the 15 cars we drove passed
must have thought, and what would have happened
if they had not moved to the passing lane to get
by us as we wizzed past at 70mph.
It was nighttime and we had returned to the
highway from the rest area where we..... it was the mid 70s.
Scozzaro's van looks KIA.
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Three people were seriously hurt and two others
suffered minor injuries in a multivehicle
collision Friday on Highway 101 involving a
wrong-way driver, according to the
<http://www.chp.ca.gov/>California Highway Patrol.
The wreck, caused by an allegedly drunken driver,
occurred shortly after 6 a.m. on the northbound
freeway between the Pueblo Street offramp and the
Junipero Street pedestrian overcrossing, the CHP said.
Five vehicles were involved in the collision,
including the Volkswagen Vanagon that was driving
south in the northbound lanes.
The wrong-way driver, identified as Joseph A.
Scozzaro, 70, of Santa Barbara, encountered
Yesenia G. Vidal, 23, of Goleta, as she was
entering the freeway from the Mission Street
onramp in her Nissan Altima, the CHP said.
Vidal swerved to the right to avoid a collision
with Scozzaro, but crashed into the right guardrail.
Seconds later, Scozzaro smashed head-on into an
Acura Integra driven by David V. Nguyen, 22, of Garden Grove, the CHP said.
The darkened wreckage of the three vehicles came
to rest blocking most of the freeway, the CHP
said, and was struck by a Chevy Silverado driven
by Wayne R. Mantooth, 48, of Norwalk.
The final collision occurred when a Ford F-150
driven by Sergio M. Figueroa, 53, of Santa
Barbara, struck the disabled vehicles, the CHP said.
Three of the drivers had to be extricated from
their vehicles by firefighters, an extended
process that was prioritized based on the
severity of their injuries,
<http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/government/departments/fire/>Santa
Barbara fire Capt. Gary Pitney said.
The CHP said Scozzaro was first reported driving
the wrong way near the Las Positas Road exit.
Scozzaro suffered major injuries, and was taken
to
<http://www.sbch.org/OurHospitals/SantaBarbaraCottageHospital/tabid/142/Default.aspx>Santa
Barbara Cottage Hospital, the CHP said.
Nguyen and Figueroa suffered moderate injuries,
and Vidal had minor injuries, the CHP said. They
also were taken to Cottage Hospital for treatment.
Mantooth suffered minor injuries, the CHP said, but was not hospitalized.
All the vehicles involved sustained major damage, Pitney said.
Two of the three freeway lanes were blocked for a
time, but all were reported open by 7:30 a.m.
The CHP did not indicate what Scozzaro’s
blood-alcohol content was at the time of the crash.
_______________________________________________
Derek Drew
Washington DC / New York
derekdrew@derekmail.com
Email is best normally but...
PHONE: 202-966-7907 (Call the number at left normally)
(alt/cell for diligent calling only): 703-408-1532