- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Northshore woman dies in early Tuesday wreck
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Northshore woman was killed Tuesday morning when her car collided head-on with a semi truck.
The California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area office did not release the name of the 40-year-old woman from Nice pending notification of family.
The CHP said the crash occurred at approximately 6:26 a.m. on Highway 20, half a mile west of the intersection with Highway 53 near Clearlake Oaks.
The woman was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier eastbound, approaching a 2001 Kenworth semi truck pulling two trailers with empty agricultural produce bins that 54-year-old Tomas Araujo of Lodi was driving westbound, the CHP said.
For reasons that the CHP said investigators have yet to determine, the woman's Chevrolet entered the westbound lane directly in Araujo's path.
Araujo took evasive action, turning the truck to the left to try to avoid hitting the Chevrolet. However, the CHP said the woman's car veered back toward the eastbound lane, colliding head-on with the semi.
The CHP said the woman died at the scene from her injuries. Araujo was uninjured. Both were using their safety equipment.
When firefighters arrived they found the Chevrolet off the road, with the jackknifed semi blocking the highway, according to reports from the scene.
Both lanes of Highway 20 were blocked as a result of the crash as well as the presence of emergency vehicles, and one-way traffic control was established, the CHP said. The roadway was reported to be fully reopened at around 10:15 a.m.
The CHP said the crash remains under investigation by Officer Efrain Cortez.
If anyone witnessed the wreck, they are asked to contact the CHP's Clear Lake Area office in Kelseyville at 707-279-0103.
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