Lanes in both directions of U.S. Highway 101 have reopened after separate multiple-vehicle and major-injury collisions early Sunday morning killed at least one person, resulted in one arrest on suspicion of felony DUI and sent several people to hospitals, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The series of collisions started around 2:08 a.m. when a wrong-way driver on northbound U.S. 101 seriously injured another motorist in a head-on collision, CHP Officer Dave Morey said. The wrong-way driver died at the scene. The CHP is investigating whether drugs or alcohol were factors in that collision.
At about 2:30 a.m., two separate collisions occurred on the southbound side of the freeway, Morey said, both of which are suspected to have occurred as the motorists were looking at the collision scene on the northbound side. In the first collision, one vehicle rear-ended the other on southbound U.S. 101 approximately 75 yards south of the northbound collision scene.
Sometime not long after that, a woman in the vehicle that was hit from behind walked into the southbound lanes and was struck by another vehicle on the freeway, Morey said. The driver of the vehicle that hit her has been arrested on suspicion of felony DUI as drugs or alcohol are believed to be factors in the collision. The suspect's name hasn't been released.
The woman was transported to a hospital and is currently in critical condition, according to Morey.
As of 4:30 a.m., two lanes of the southbound freeway at Embarcadero Road have reopened, and at least one lane of the northbound freeway is now clear.
