A 31-year-old San Martin woman and a 21-year-old Gilroy man died in two separate vehicle collisions approximately eight hours and 15 minutes apart in unincorporated Santa Clara County over the weekend, authorities said. One crash ended with a driver booked into jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter; the other, involving a pedestrian found lying in the roadway before he was struck, has produced no arrests.
The first collision happened around 6:34 p.m. Saturday at Monterey Road and Church Avenue, according to The Mercury News. A Ford SUV left the roadway and struck a tree, killing its front-seat passenger, the 31-year-old San Martin woman. The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail, and authorities said speed played a role in the crash, though they did not specify how fast the vehicle was traveling.
Second Crash Involved Pedestrian Already Down in the Road
Second Crash Involved Pedestrian Already Down in the Road Approximately eight hours and 15 minutes later, around 2:49 a.m. Sunday, a vehicle struck a pedestrian at West San Martin Avenue and Colony Avenue. According to the California Highway Patrol Hollister-Gilroy Area office, officers dispatched to the scene found the 21-year-old Gilroy man lying unresponsive in the roadway before he was hit. The available reports do not state whether a driver was arrested at the scene, as SFGATE reported. He later died of his injuries.
CHP investigated both incidents. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21954, a pedestrian lying or walking outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield the right-of-way to oncoming vehicles, though drivers are still legally required to exercise due care to avoid striking anyone in the road, according to FindLaw.
Commander Renews Call for Caution on South Valley Roads
CHP Hollister-Gilroy Area Commander Capt. Noel Coady urged drivers to prioritize arriving safely over arriving quickly, saying traffic-law violations have predictable but preventable outcomes. Coady also said pedestrian safety is everyone's responsibility. It echoes a warning Coady issued in July, when three people were killed in separate crashes across unincorporated Santa Clara County over a single weekend, according to SanBenito.com; that earlier round of crashes involved two motorcyclists and a head-on collision between two pickup trucks along major South Santa Clara County corridors.
The weekend deaths add to a string of fatal roadway incidents CHP Hollister-Gilroy has investigated in the area this year. In March, a 17-year-old Morgan Hill resident was found unresponsive in the roadway under the U.S. 101 overcrossing at Tennant Avenue, a case investigated as a suspected hit-and-run, per the same outlet. And Monterey Road itself has been the site of repeated tragedy: Hoodline previously reported on a fatal collision involving an electric scooter rider killed along the 14000 block of Monterey Road in Morgan Hill in April, and a pedestrian struck and killed near Ford Road in San Jose in July.
Statewide Push Against Speeding and Impaired Driving
The California Highway Patrol awarded or distributed more than $41 million through Proposition 64 for impaired-driving efforts. National statistics cited by traffic officials showed speeding was a factor in nearly 30% of all U.S. traffic fatalities in 2024, according to SanBenito.com.
Under California Penal Code Section 191.5, a conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is a felony carrying a state prison sentence of 4, 6, or 10 years, escalating to 15 years to life for drivers with prior DUI or vehicular manslaughter convictions, according to Justia Law. It remains unclear whether the driver arrested Saturday will face that specific charge or a lesser one.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office will release the identities of both victims once identification and next-of-kin notification are complete, a process that typically takes several months to finalize a full autopsy report. Anyone with information about either crash is asked to call the CHP Hollister-Gilroy Area office at 408-427-0700.
