A 31-year-old San Martin woman and a 21-year-old Gilroy man died in two separate vehicle collisions approximately eight hours and 15 minutes apart in unincorporated Santa Clara County over the weekend, authorities said. One crash ended with a driver booked into jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter; the other, involving a pedestrian found lying in the roadway before he was struck, has produced no arrests.
The first collision happened around 6:34 p.m. Saturday at Monterey Road and Church Avenue, according to The Mercury News. A Ford SUV left the roadway and struck a tree, killing its front-seat passenger, the 31-year-old San Martin woman. The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail, and authorities said speed played a role in the crash, though they did not specify how fast the vehicle was traveling.
Second Crash Involved Pedestrian Already Down in the Road
Second Crash Involved Pedestrian Already Down in the Road Approximately eight hours and 15 minutes later, around 2:49 a.m. Sunday, a vehicle struck a pedestrian at West San Martin Avenue and Colony Avenue. According to the California Highway Patrol Hollister-Gilroy Area office, officers dispatched to the scene found the 21-year-old Gilroy man lying unresponsive in the roadway before he was hit. The available reports do not state whether a driver was arrested at the scene, as SFGATE reported. He later died of his injuries.
CHP investigated both incidents. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21954, a pedestrian lying or walking outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield the right-of-way to oncoming vehicles, though drivers are still legally required to exercise due care to avoid striking anyone in the road, according to FindLaw.
Commander Renews Call for Caution on South Valley Roads
CHP Hollister-Gilroy Area Commander Capt. Noel Coady urged drivers to prioritize arriving safely over arriving quickly, saying traffic-law violations have predictable but preventable outcomes. Coady also said pedestrian safety is everyone’s responsibility. It echoes a warning Coady issued in July, when three people were killed in separate crashes across unincorporated Santa Clara County over a single weekend, according to SanBenito.com; that earlier round of crashes involved two motorcyclists and a head-on collision between two pickup trucks along major South Santa Clara County corridors…