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Woodbridge firefighters prepare to extract one of two bodies of a double-fatal collision that occurred Friday afternoon on Highway 12, west of Peatland Road. An adult and child were killed when their Buick collided with a tanker truck carrying wine. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)
2 killed in head-on Highway 12 crash
Man, girl die after car veers into path of big rig
A man and a girl died on Highway 12 on Friday after their car veered into the path of an oncoming big rig loaded with red wine and then burst into flames.
The crash closed Highway 12 at Interstate 5 for several hours as Woodbridge firefighters put out the flames then cut apart the car to reach the victims, who were already dead.
The 1:24 p.m. crash happened when the driver of an eastbound 1989 Buick Century swerved into the big rig's lane east of Correia Road, said CHP Officer Adrian Quintero.
The driver of the 1996 Peterbilt truck told officers he was driving at 54 mph and couldn't avoid the car. His truck, which pushed the car about 50 yards before stopping, left lengthy skid marks down the road.
The truck's yellow cab came to rest facing south in the opposite lane, with the front left tire pushed halfway back underneath the cab.
After the crash, the Buick burst into flames, and the truck driver, 38-year-old Juan Prado, of Merced, could not help the victims in time, Quintero said.
Why the Buick's driver crossed the center line was unknown, and CHP investigators will inspect the car to see if it had any mechanical malfunctions, Quintero said. The car left no skid marks.
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Witnesses said the road was clear, meaning that the driver had no reason to pass slower vehicles.
A motorcyclist traveling some distance behind the Buick didn't see the crash, but did witness the immediate aftermath.
"People were stopped and fire was up in the sky," said Ron Phillips, who was on his way to a doctor's appointment in Lodi.
The Isleton resident tried to help, but said the car's occupants weren't moving when he got to them and that the car was completely engulfed in flames.
"I've lived out here for 20 years and I see crashes all around me," Phillips said, though he said he's never quite seen a crash like Friday's crash.
The car had apparently just been sold to a Stockton resident, Quintero said.
Officials did not release names of the male driver or his passenger, a child possibly between the ages of 10 and 12, and their identities may need to be confirmed through dental records.
CHP officers did not know if they were wearing seat belts, due to the extent of the fire, but the safety devices wouldn't have mattered in such a blaze.
Prado, the big rig's driver, was wearing his seat belt and did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Quintero said. He was not injured, but his employer, Cherokee Freight Lines of Stockton, later took him to a hospital for routine company-required medical and drug testing.
The driver and company employees at the scene declined to comment. The truck had been bound for the small town of St. Helena, located about two hours away from the crash scene in the Napa Valley. Instead, the truck and its tanker full of wine were towed from the scene.
The crash left gouge marks in the pavement, scattered glass for yards and puddles of wine in the grooves cut in the shoulder, which is designed to keep cars on the road.
An hour-and-a-half after the crash, a tow truck driver slowly dragged the Buick's remains onto the tow truck's bead. The car had once been red, but nearly all of the paint was burned off.
Traffic was closed at Interstate 5 for nearly three hours, something that drivers seem to face all too often.
Highway 12 has its share of major crashes, many of them involving drivers crossing over the center line.
Three weeks earlier, a Lodi man died on Highway 12 near Rio Vista in Sacramento County when he also veered into the path of an oncoming big rig. His 9-year-old son survived the crash.
In November, a San Joaquin County jury ruled against a Highway 12 crash survivor who was hit by a driver who swerved into her lane near Tower Park. The young woman had sued the California Department of Transportation for failing to make the road safe enough, but the jury decided the crash was the other driver's fault.
Last year, Highway 12 had two fatal crashes in San Joaquin County limits, Quintero said.
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Lodian wrote on Jan 13, 2009 9:55 AM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 13, 2009 8:23 AM:
Cogito wrote on Jan 12, 2009 4:23 PM:
Cogito wrote on Jan 12, 2009 4:17 PM:
Janice M. Bonser wrote on Jan 12, 2009 2:17 PM:
galtgirl77 wrote on Jan 12, 2009 8:17 AM:
contentado wrote on Jan 11, 2009 11:36 PM:
In driving Hwy 12 at 4:45 today I was passed by a red sedan with three kids in the back - with oncoming traffic, they barely made it back on the right side in time. It was in the same area as Friday's accident. I was going 57 mph and they flew on down the road at over 65 mph. Funny thing when we sat side by side at the Rio Vista light when they turned left onto 160! The idiot woman driver could have placed me and my daughter in tomorrow's obituary. Hope you are reading this and realize putting your family, mine and oncoming traffic in danger didn't save you one second of time. Don't be a fool, don't pass on blood alley. "
Alicia wrote on Jan 11, 2009 10:12 PM:
Alicia wrote on Jan 11, 2009 10:07 PM:
Lodian wrote on Jan 11, 2009 3:26 PM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 11, 2009 2:48 PM:
danielh wrote on Jan 11, 2009 2:04 PM:
There was just one instance, and it was on Highway 99, near Elk Grove about 2 years ago.
Literally, someone went over the center-divide, into the opposing traffic. "
Lodian wrote on Jan 11, 2009 1:40 PM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 11, 2009 12:12 PM:
ross farrow wrote on Jan 11, 2009 11:22 AM:
aragon59 wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:49 AM:
Cogito wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:18 AM:
aragon59 wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:15 AM:
Cogito wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:15 AM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:10 AM:
buck wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:02 AM:
aragon59 wrote on Jan 11, 2009 8:55 AM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 11, 2009 8:26 AM:
firefigthermom wrote on Jan 11, 2009 7:55 AM:
Lodian wrote on Jan 11, 2009 12:31 AM:
Indeed. "
Lodian wrote on Jan 11, 2009 12:30 AM:
fire chief wrote on Jan 10, 2009 10:48 PM:
Patricia wrote on Jan 10, 2009 4:32 PM:
sam wrote on Jan 10, 2009 3:53 PM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:45 PM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:32 PM:
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:24 PM:
I'm so sorry this happened to you Kern..........and the tragedy that has struck your family! May you rest in peace with your baby girl! "
tenaciousluv wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:23 PM:
We can not ignore the death rate on this road and keep blaming the people either.............they don't call it blood valley for nothing!! Whether youre caught off guard or "
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:18 PM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 2:13 PM:
Patricia wrote on Jan 10, 2009 1:41 PM:
danielh wrote on Jan 10, 2009 11:39 AM:
1) who makes the decision
2) which one of the elected officials is responsible for fighting fo rthe community against Los Angeles, for your highway funds.
I recently heard one of the county supervisors giving a political excuses speech for why Hwy 12 is not upgraded, in favor of Los Angeles, which receives the highway funds. "
sam wrote on Jan 10, 2009 11:15 AM:
Jramagic, I do need to personally share this info with you. As of 5 years ago I refuse to drive that stretch of Highway 12. I will take the "long" way to Napa or to Berkeley because I feel that road is so dangerous.
When facing an idiot driver head on on 12, there is no shoulder, no field to safely escape into, no way out. The highway is lined with dangerously deep ditches.
Observer, that is not a bad idea. I like it. "
Observer wrote on Jan 10, 2009 10:23 AM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 10:16 AM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 10:05 AM:
sam wrote on Jan 10, 2009 9:29 AM:
jramagic, you are correct. Just this morning while getting the paper, I witnessed a car doing 65 cross the double yellow line in front of my home to pass 4 cars doing the 35 mph speed limit.
It is not the road that kills, it is the careless drivers. "
Patricia wrote on Jan 10, 2009 9:17 AM:
WOWerzz wrote on Jan 10, 2009 9:10 AM:
loadeye wrote on Jan 10, 2009 9:05 AM:
jramagic wrote on Jan 10, 2009 7:54 AM:
Some driver, for some reason we will never know he "crossed the line" smack dab into the unyielding face of a Peterbilt. Closing speed...approx 110+ MPH. Result: Instant and complete death-like in a nuclear explosion. Conclusion: If there had been a divider barrier, this would be a mere body shop claim instead of new customers for the local funeral parlor. Maybe you are next. "
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