Three people were injured — two seriously — Wednesday night in a pair of collisions on Highway 101 near Carpinteria that tied up traffic until Thursday morning.
The first accident, involving a Freightliner big-rig truck and a Honda Accord, occurred shortly before 7:30 p.m. on the southbound lanes just south of Santa Claus Lane, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officers said the driver of the Accord, Sabrina Alonso, 18, of Irvine, moved from the left lane into the right lane and collided with the Freightliner, driven by Juan Carreon, 47, of Norwalk.
The Freightliner struck the guardrail on the southbound side of the freeway, and also hit the center divider, coming to rest on its right side and spilling a load of strawberries, the CHP said.
The fast lanes on both sides of the freeway were closed as a result of the crash.
Violetta Castillo, a passenger in the Freightliner, suffered major injuries and was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Alonso had minor injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics.
More than two hours later, at about 9:45 p.m., a second collision occurred in the northbound lanes north of Santa Monica Road, the CHP said.
With the fast lane closed and traffic congested from the earlier crash, David Guzman, 31, of Santa Barbara failed to notice traffic ahead of him had stopped, the CHP said, and his Toyota Prius slammed into a Kia Sorrento.
The impact caused a chain-reaction crash that also involved a Honda Civic and a Chevy Exquinox.
Guzman was taken to Cottage Hospital with major injuries, the CHP said, adding that none of the other involved parties was injured.
Clean-up of the wreckage took most of the night, and the freeway was fully reopened Friday morning.
Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.