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Goleta Man Killed By Wrong-Way Driver on Highway 101 at El Sueno Exit
By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher | 
6:15 p.m. | Published on 09.23.2009
A Goleta man died Wednesday morning when his vehicle was hit by a wrong-way driver on northbound Highway 101 at El Sueno Road.
Four other vehicles were involved in the 6 a.m. accident that closed the northbound lanes for most of the morning, leaving traffic backed up for miles and snarling Santa Barbara’s commute. The California Highway Patrol said all lanes of the freeway were reopened shortly after 11 a.m.
According to the CHP, Mark William Slander of Ventura, who was driving a white Verizon truck, a 2007 Chevy Silverado, hit five vehicles as he headed southbound in the northbound lanes near the El Sueno exit. He suffered a knee injury in the accident.
Jose Raul Reyes Vega of Goleta, driving a 2003 Chevrolet Venture, was killed in the crash, authorities said.
Others who were involved in the collisions, but were uninjured, were Evelynn B. Debusschere of Carpinteria, driving a 2007 Honda Civic; Alejandro Saucedo Vazquez of Ventura, driving a 2008 Honda Civic; Rosalinda Basilio Munoz of Santa Barbara, driving a 2003 Mercedes-Benz ML320; and Peter Wilfred Edwards of Santa Barbara, driving a 1991 GMC 2500.
A second fatal accident occurred about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday on Highway 154 in Los Olivos. The road has since been reopened between Highways 101 and 246.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.
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» on 09.23.09 @ 09:34 AM
Apparently this was a Verizon truck, according to a friend of mine that got stuck in the traffic jam.
» on 09.23.09 @ 11:00 AM
Does anyone know how traffic is now?
» on 09.23.09 @ 11:25 AM
If you were driving on the wrong side of the freeway why wouldn’t you just be smart even though you obviously aren’t and just pull onto the shoulder and wait for a safe opportunity to turn around instead of killing someone and snarling traffic for hours..I hope this guy is never allowed to drive again
» on 09.23.09 @ 11:25 AM
Thanks for the update, I couldn’t fine it on the TV but did know something happened when the traffic was dense on side roads.
» on 09.23.09 @ 02:31 PM
Well a lot of questions to be answered:
Verizon employee?
Stolen van?
Drunk driving?
Suicide attempt? (really, could you do this on accident?)
Oh, and PS, that driver is not going to be driving anymore if you read the text. “The driver of the van was killed in the crash about 6:10 a.m. Wednesday…”
» on 09.23.09 @ 02:50 PM
The driver of the Verizon TRUCK was not killed-it looks the driver of the van that was hit by the Verizon truck was killed.
» on 09.23.09 @ 03:04 PM
Could it have been a medical emergency (seizure, diabetic confusion, fainting episode) that led to the wrong way driving and fatal crash? I caught word of this possibility via another source. It’s anyone’s guess until more info is released.
» on 09.23.09 @ 03:18 PM
You’re going the wrong way! Can you hear me now? You’re going the wrong way!
» on 09.24.09 @ 04:49 AM
I heard the driver might have been going into a diabetic coma hence being confused and going the wrong way.
» on 09.24.09 @ 10:07 AM
Apply @ verizon
» on 09.24.09 @ 08:57 PM
a few of these people who commented on this need to stop for a second and just think about how it would affect them if someone they knew and loved was involved in this accident.
i don’t think you’d be making jokes then.
» on 09.24.09 @ 09:02 PM
First I want to give my heartfelt condolence to the family and friends of the deceased.
Second, I want to give many Kudos to Noozhawk for listing the Make, Model and year of the vehicles involved. It is useful information when considering how bad the involved were injured or if they died.
It would be nice to know how bad these victims were injured but maybe that wasn’t available when this article was posted.
Anyway, good job guys!
» on 09.25.09 @ 02:11 PM
The victims of this horrible situation can call us to help them 805-(Solicitation removed by administrator). We help auto accident victims. God be with the van driver’s family.
[Noozhawk’s note: Thanks for your concern about the victims. Our advertising department will be happy to help you reach our readers.]
» on 09.26.09 @ 06:59 AM
Winchester Canyon to El Sueno? Where are the cops?
If when the first call came in, two Sheriff vehicles took off from the station at Calle Real to ElSueno and Turnpike respectively, and stopped traffic, this accident might never of happened.
Why the slow response? It’s bad enough that they won’t investigate property crimes of less than $5,000 (sorry if your not rich enough for high end burgalries)but this response time deserves an explanation from the Chief.
» on 09.26.09 @ 05:32 PM
Is Noozhawk going to eventually tell its readers what the “medical” nature of that
driver’s problem was, that let him drive down the wrong side of 101 at dawn at
(an estimated) 70mph?
If the guy had “medical problems”, why was he driving a company truck on 101 at
all? How did he get a DMV driver’s license? If he had a “restricted” license, was he
following all the conditions of his “medical restriction” at the time?
On a related note, with all the uniformed public safety personal, City, County, State,
who do safety and traffic work on the south coast, why were none of them visible
on State-Hollister, Modoc, Foothill-Cathedral Oaks for most of the emergency, to
help direct traffic?
I’d like to think that all our black-and-white patrols are out busting al Qaeda cells,
but it’s doubtful.
So why not do like the British, French, Japanese, Canadians do after a terrible road
accident, and get the men and women in blue out at key intersections with cones
and flares, to keep traffic moving?
» on 09.27.09 @ 04:28 AM
There is still one more question that needs to be answered: What about early stage Alzheimer’s disease? Alzheimer’s disease sometimes does appear in younger people.
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