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A 19-year-old driver was arrested for being under the influence of drugs in a head-on crash in Cotati.

DUI crash: A 19-year-old was arrested early Tuesday for driving under the influence of drugs after a head-on collision that critically injured the other driver on Stony Point Road in Cotati.

•   A teen driver who appeared to be high on drugs veered across a double yellow line and into oncoming traffic on a rural road.

•   His pickup truck crashed head-on into an SUV. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles.

•   The driver of the SUV suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Stanford Hospital.

•   The teen driver was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and then taken to a local hospital to be treated for injuries he sustained in the accident.

The car accident occurred at about 8:30 a.m. in heavy fog, according to a report in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

California Highway Patrol Officer Jonathan Sloat said 19-year-old Ben Rhoades of Sebastopol was driving a Ford F250 pickup truck south on Stony Point Road when he veered across the double yellow line into the northbound lane just south of West Sierra Avenue.

Rhoades’ truck slammed head-on into an oncoming Ford Escape driven by 46-year-old Vicki Siefer of Novato, Sloat told the Healdsberg Patch news site.

There were conflicting news reports about which of the vehicles rolled over, but both drivers were trapped inside their vehicles and had to be extricated by firefighters.

Battalion Chief Steve Davidson told the Press-Democrat that getting her out of her car took about 45 minutes and was one of the most complicated extrications Rancho Adobe firefighters have ever handled.

“Part of the upper half of her body was outside of the wrecked vehicle but her legs were trapped inside,” the Press-Democrat reported. “Firefighters had to cut parts of the car away to get her legs untangled from the wreckage.”

Siefer suffered major injuries, which were considered to be life-threatening. She was airlifted via helicopter to Stanford Medical Center in critical condition, Sloat said.

Rhoades appeared to be intoxicated, officers said. He was arrested and taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to be treated for injuries he sustained in the accident. He was listed in fair condition.

Officials closed Stony Point Road for about 90 minutes.

Cotati Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A passenger was killed in a wrong-way freeway accident on I-15 in Victorville.

Wrong-way freeway accident: One person was killed and another seriously injured Saturday when a driver on drugs drove the wrong way and crashed into another vehicle at 100 mph on Interstate 15 in Victorville.

•   A man on drugs drove a Jeep Cherokee the  wrong way on the freeway at about 100 mph and crashed head-on with a Mazda.

•   The Mazda was pushed into the center divider. The driver was hospitalized with major injuries.

•   A passenger in the wrong-way Jeep died at the scene.

•   The wrong-way driver was arrested at the scene and then treated for his injuries. 

The head-on car accident occurred on southbound Interstate 15 near Bear Valley Road, shortly after 7:30 a.m., according to an article in the Victorville Daily Press.

California Highway Patrol Officer Mario Lopez said 33-year-old Phelan resident Ernesto Vargas was under the influence of drugs when he drove a white Jeep Cherokee onto the freeway in the wrong direction.

Authorities did not know exactly where Vargas entered the freeway, witnesses reported seeing him as far back as the Highway 395 on-ramp, Lopez said.

“The vehicle was reportedly traveling at approximately 100 mph,” Lopez said.

Vargas drove at that high speed for least six miles in the wrong direction before he crashed head-on into  a black Mazda driven by a man from Fort Irwin. The impact sent both vehicles into a spin and pushed the Mazda onto the center median rail.

The driver of the Mazda, whose identity was not released by the CHP, suffered moderate to major injuries and was hospitalized at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.  CHP officials said his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

A passenger in the Cherokee, Kellie Sue Hughes, died at the scene.

Vargas was trapped in his vehicle. He fought with rescuers who were trying to pull him from his wrecked vehicle. He had to be subdued with a Taser. The CHP arrested him at the scene and then he was transported to Desert Valley Hospital to be treated for injuries he sustained in the accident, including a broken leg.

Officials closed the southbound side of the freeway for about two hours while the CHP conducted a preliminary investigation.

Court records show that Vargas was previously convicted in San Bernardino County of drug possession, assault with a deadly weapon, and disturbing the peace.

Victorville Freeway Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Drugged driving is on the rise in California.

Drugged driving deaths are on the rise in California, according to an Office of Traffic Safety report issued this week.

•   Drugged driving fatalities are increasing and drunk driving fatalities are decreasing in California.

•   One in three drivers killed in accidents tested positive for drugs.

•   More people are now driving stoned than are driving drunk.

•   Part of the increase is due to the increase in legal marijuana usage.

The OTS report shows that one out of three drivers killed in car accidents in 2010 tested positive for legal and/or illegal drugs. That percentage that has been increasing since 2006, while drunk driving fatalities have decreased.

“You can be as deadly behind the wheel with marijuana or prescription drugs as you can with over-the-limit alcohol,” said OTS director Christopher J. Murphy. “The bottom line is drugs and driving do not mix.”

Research shows drugs have an adverse effect on judgment, reaction time, motor skills and memory – critical skills for safe and responsible driving, according to the OTS report.

A recent report released by Dalhousie University in Canada found that drivers who had used marijuana within three hours of driving had nearly double the risk of causing a crash as those not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Canadian research reviewed nine studies of more than 49,000 people involved in crashes.

Part of the increased in drug-impaired driving deaths is simply that more people now are driving stoned than are driving drunk.

Six cities in California conducted nighttime weekend “voluntary” roadside surveys and  found that the 8.4 percent of drivers who were pulled over tested positive for marijuana, while 7.6 percent were under the influence of alcohol.

Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the OTS, told the Los Angeles Times that increases in legal marijuana use and in prescription drug impairment could be contributing factors.

Despite these statistics, the general public remains unaware of the magnitude of the problem. Drug-impaired driving is often under-reported and under-recognized and toxicology testing is expensive. Additionally, because there is no established impairment level for drugs, prosecuting drug impaired driving cases can be difficult.

“We’re sort of where we were with drunk driving in 1950,” Cochran said, “we’re just getting a handle on it.”

Drug-impaired driving is “the new challenge” for both law enforcement and the judicial system, said Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten.

“We need to make sure that drivers displaying objective signs of drug impairment either through bad driving or failed standardized field sobriety testing are arrested and prosecuted.”

The Office of Traffic Safety is working with the California Highway Patrol to train officers on how to spot drugged drivers and apprehend them. Police departments across the state also are being urged to train officers and become Drug Recognition Experts.

CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said the training for law enforcement officers “is the key to successfully removing drug-impaired drivers from the road.”

California Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.