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
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed

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.

============
BEGIN QUOTE
============

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