Watsonville Woman Killed on Hwy. 129

A Watsonville woman died Friday morning when she allowed her car to veer into oncoming traffic on Highway 129 east of town and caused a three-vehicle collision that closed the two-lane thoroughfare for hours.

"It was a bad one," California Highway Patrol officer Grant Boles said at the scene.

The 23-year-old woman was eastbound nearing Carton Road around 10:40 a.m. when a chain reaction of events crushed her car, killing her, according to the CHP.

The woman's red Dodge Neon drifted across the double-yellow lines. Her car clipped a westbound silver Hyundai, which spun the Neon out-of-control. A westbound dump truck loaded down with gravel broadsided the driver's side of the Neon, according to Boles.

"She was killed instantly," Boles said.

The Register-Pajaronian newspaper shot this video of the crash scene. It shows the front end of the dump truck smashed into the Neon, the front wheels of the truck where the driver's seat should be in the car.

The CHP intially reported that the woman who died was from Ceres, in Stanislaus County, but Boles said they found a local address for her. Her name has not been released, pending notification of relatives.

The woman driving the Hyundai suffered minor injuries and was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital. The dump truck driver, a 47-year-old Manteca man, was not hurt.

CHP officers are still investigating what caused the woman's car to enter oncoming traffic. Boles said illegal lane-changing may have been a factor.

The highway was closed for about three hours while the CHP officers worked and Caltrans crews cleaned up. Traffic was diverted on Carlton and Thompson roads.

The two-lane highway connecting Watsonville and Highway 101 runs through agriculture fields. It's heavily traveled by big rigs and commuters.

The entire length of highway is a no-passing zone and a safety project a few years back added "rumble strips" to the center of the road so drivers know when they're crossing into oncoming traffic. Head-on crashes, especially during rainy weather or on foggy days, have been a problem for years.

. In April 2011, .

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