If you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, bring your patience with you. Although AAA projects fewer people are getting away this 4th of July, millions of people will still travel by car. And especially if you’re headed to the coast from Kern County, be ready to cope with some traffic.
Highway 46, one of the main roads to the coast, was closed for hours after a fatal accident Friday morning.
It seemed like eternity, but it only took seconds.
“It caught fire. As soon as I got stopped, it was engulfed in flames on the left side... I went to get out on the right side. I was screaming for him to get out,” driver Julie Rutan said.
Rutan and her husband Bob say when a car struck their big rig Friday morning; it was just a matter of moments before the truck went up in flames. The couple was able to get out uninjured. But the CHP says the other driver was ejected from her silver Honda and died at the scene of the crash. Officers say the 23-year-old woman is from Riverside, she was speeding, and she was not wearing a seat belt.
“I feel sad for her and for her family. I ask god to be with them. But right now for me and my wife, I am just grateful we are alive,” Bob Rutan said.
Rutan says he and his wife were traveling east on Highway 46 and the other driver was coming west. The couple says the woman was trying to pass other drivers in her lane and when she saw their big rig coming the opposite way she tried to move but it was too late.
CHP officers closed Highway 46 for hours Friday as they investigated.
“I am going to go sailing in Monterrey Bay so I guess I go to Gilroy and turn up there… seems like the next best way,” traveler Wally White said.
Many travelers we spoke to say other people headed to the coast should give themselves plenty of time. Drivers say Highway 46 can be dangerous and accidents are common.
“We also witnessed like my daughter's classmates mother has been killed on 46. So we go every holiday... every 4th of July, Memorial Day, New Year’s Eve, and there is always something,” traveler Keisha Tingey said.
The CHP wants to remind drivers to take your time and always wait for a passing zone. If you are headed out of town this weekend, you can call 1-800-GAS-ROAD for the latest road conditions.
