http://www.noozhawk.com/article/three_hurt_in_wrong-way_crash_on_highway_101_20140131
There is a professional accordionist by the name of Joseph Scozzaro who resides or works in Santa Barbara. He's the only one listed in the area. Age 70, married to a retired nurse. I looked at his wife's FB account where his pics are posted. No pics of Vanagons there but plenty of 'Joseppis' celebrating his 70th birthday jokingly posted as his 90th. The FB account under the name 'Joseppis Joseppis' is probably his as he is friends with wife of Joseph, Sharyl. This fellow looks to have been around the music and social scene for nearly 31 years. It would not surprise me to discover he was literally "drinking on the job" before the accident. At least nobody was killed - yet.
I've survived drunk drivers TWICE. One destroyed my first 911 Targa. The other my 280TE. And some of you might remember when I sneaked over to Burbank on a commuter flight to fetch my LT35. Didn't tell the wife because I expected to be home before her. Well there I was going 50mph on the San Bernardino freeway when a wrong way driver flew by me on the shoulder going supposedly over 100mph. The news helicopters caught me driving the LT. I spent the evening making sure SpicyT didn't watch the news.😏
BenT
sent from my electronic leash
> On Feb 5, 2014, at 8:20 AM, Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> 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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> BEGIN QUOTE
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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
>
