Palm Desert Truck Accident Lawyers in Riverside California

A woman who was driving the wrong way on Interstate 10 apparently died instantly Tuesday when her car slammed head-on into a big-rig and burst into flames near Palm Desert.
A woman drove her car down an I-10 off-ramp and entered the freeway traveling the wrong direction. She was driving west on the eastbound side of the freeway.
Before CHP officers were able to get to her, she crashed into an oncoming big-rig.

Both vehicles burst into flames and burned to a crisp.
The woman died instantly. The truck driver and his passenger escaped unharmed.California Highway Patrol officer Joe Zagorski said the woman was driving a Honda Accord west in the eastbound No. 3 lane of I-10 the freeway when the accident occurred.

A newspaper delivery driver saw the woman drive onto the freeway, the wrong direction, on an offramp.“I slowed down, but it came down the ramp, and I flashed my lights at (her) and honked my horn and (she) just kept coming,” Wes Furlong told the Desert Sun. Other drivers also saw the Accord headed in the wrong direction and reported it to police.

CHP officers immediately went searching for the wrong-way vehicle. Before they reached the Accord, it slammed head-on into an oncoming big-rig just west of Washington Street. Both vehicles immediately burst into flames.The driver of the Accord died almost instantly. The truck driver, 41-year-old Raul Santiago of Ontario, and his passenger, 44-year-old Oliver Obannon of La Quinta, both escaped unharmed.

Both vehicles were burnt to a crisp. The truck was hauling a load of paper and electronic supplies. All of it was completely destroyed in the fire. The driver of the Accord could not be identified. Officials from the Riverside County Coroner’s Office said they had determined only that the driver was a woman and would continue the process of identifying her.

“The vehicle burned for 30 minutes, so we have to rely on the coroner for a lot of things, including identity,” Zagorski said.
The freeway was closed for almost 11 hours while Caltans and hazardous material crews cleared the scene. Neither the body nor the vehicles could be moved until the coroner made a preliminary investigation.

Zagorski said it would take several weeks to get toxicology test results and to complete the investigation into the cause of the accident. Until that time, authorities do not know whether drugs or alcohol were involved.