Edhat Staff
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s-Coroner’s Bureau has released the name of the wrong-way driver who died in a collision on Highway 101 this month.
Jose Nicholas Rodriguez, 43 of Santa Barbara, died following the collision on Highway 101 southbound, north of the Las Positas Road, on October 13, according to Raquel Zick, Public Information Officer for the Sheriff’s Office.
Three additional people were injured in this crash.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) reports around 9:35 p.m. Rodriguez was driving a Nissan Sentra the wrong way down the Las Positas southbound offramp onto Highway 101.
Rodriguez’s vehicle crashed into two vehicles on the offramp and continued traveling onto the highway where it collided into a Volkswagen Atlas SUV in the right-hand lane.
An adult female driving the SUV sustained major injuries while two teenage passengers sustained moderate injuries, according to the CHP.
All three were transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital by a ground ambulance.
The occupants of the two vehicles on the offramp were uninjured, although their vehicles sustained damage.
CHP stated the injured driver of the SUV was not under the influence, although it’s unclear at this time if Rodriguez was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
