Authorities said a 33-year-old man was driving a Volkswagen Passat west on Ocean View Boulevard when he moved into the eastbound side and collided head-on with an oncoming Kia Soul. The Kia was driven by a 61-year-old woman
Mountain View, CA – Three people were injured when a vehicle drifted into the path of oncoming traffic, leading to a head-on collision in the Mountain View area on Thursday evening.
According to the San Diego Police Department, the incident was reported at around 7:37 p.m. January 1, in the 3800 block of Ocean View Boulevard.
Authorities said a 33-year-old man was driving a Volkswagen Passat west on Ocean View Boulevard when he moved into the eastbound side and collided head-on with an oncoming Kia Soul. The Kia was driven by a 61-year-old woman.
According to SDPD, the driver of the Passat was hospitalized with internal injuries and was listed in critical condition. The driver of the Kia sustained an injury to her leg while her passenger, a 63-year-old woman, had a broken femur.
Alcohol is believed to have played a role in the incident, police reported. The San Diego Police Department continues to investigate the incident.
According to the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) data, San Diego County experienced a consistent number of injury or fatal collisions between 2017 and 2019, with figures of approximately 20,648 in 2017, 20,270 in 2018, and 19,928 in 2019. The City of San Diego accounted for a substantial portion of these incidents, consistently making up around 27-28% of the county's total fatal and injury collisions in those years. More recent data indicates that traffic fatalities spiked nationwide and statewide in the years that followed, partly attributed to riskier behaviors like speeding on less congested roads during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key issues identified by the OTS and related reports include high rates of pedestrian and bicycle-related incidents, and impaired driving. Pedestrian deaths are a leading type of motor vehicle-related fatality in San Diego, accounting for roughly 33 percent of all accident deaths in one report. Impaired driving (by alcohol and/or drugs) is another persistent problem, with a noticeable portion of accidents and a record number of DUI deaths in San Diego County reported in 2021. Speeding is a primary collision factor across California and a major safety concern for residents, contributing to nearly a third of all crashes statewide in 2020.
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Were you or your loved one injured in this car accident? You may have the right to seek damages from the party responsible for the crash. To know more about your legal options, visit our San Diego personal injury lawyer page.