A 71-year-old Vallejo man is dead after he walked onto westbound Interstate 80 overnight and was struck first by a Tesla, then by at least one more vehicle whose driver has not been identified. California Highway Patrol officers responded to the crash near the Interstate 780 interchange shortly after 2:30 a.m., and the man was pronounced dead at the scene minutes later.
CHP said officers were called to reports of a crash around 2:34 a.m. on I-80 westbound at the I-780 interchange, according to fox40.com. Authorities arrived to find that the Tesla had hit the Vallejo man, killing him. As CBS San Francisco reported, CHP has not released the man's name.
Investigators say the man entered the freeway from the right shoulder and crossed toward the center divider, walking directly into the Tesla's path. The investigation determined that the Tesla was traveling in the number two lane at around 70 miles per hour when the pedestrian appeared. The driver applied the brakes and steered left in an attempt to avoid him, but the Tesla's right front still struck the man, the same Fox40 report states.
Second Vehicle Involved, Still Unidentified
The man was then hit by at least one additional vehicle while he lay in the traffic lanes, per the Fox40 account. Records from chpfatal.com confirm he was hit a second time, though the description of that second vehicle remains unknown. CHP has said the identity of any subsequent vehicle or driver involved is currently unknown, and the crash remains under investigation.
The CHP incident log lists the man as pronounced dead at 2:49 a.m., just minutes after officers arrived on scene. All lanes of the freeway reopened by 4:45 a.m., according to the same chpfatal.com log.
Driver Says Full Self-Driving Was Engaged
The Tesla driver cooperated with officers at the scene and provided dashcam video of the collision, the Fox40 report notes. He told investigators the vehicle was operating in Full Self-Driving autonomous mode at the time of the crash.
The crash adds to scrutiny already facing Tesla's driver-assistance software. A federal investigation covering roughly 2.9 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving technology is examining reports of crashes and red-light violations, according to abc7news.com.
Not the First Deadly Crash Near This Interchange
This is not the only pedestrian fatality reported near the I-780 interchange in Vallejo. A separate pedestrian was struck and killed along eastbound I-80 just east of the interchange, with CHP noting that incident was first reported around 3:10 p.m., according to ktvu.com.
Pedestrian deaths on California freeways remain a persistent safety concern. Interstates accounted for 13 percent of fatal pedestrian crash locations statewide in 2023, and pedestrians made up 27 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities that year, per data cited by safetrec.berkeley.edu. The same research notes that nationwide, 75 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur during evening and nighttime hours, the window in which Thursday's crash took place.
