Wrong-way driver arrested

By COLBY FRAZIER — Dec. 17, 2009

A Carpinteria woman was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly driving her Ford Expedition on the wrong side of the freeway while drunk.

Authorities received a 911 call at 10:10 p.m. from a person who reported seeing the vehicle enter the northbound lanes of Highway 101 at Bath Street, and begin driving southbound.

“Six CHP officers responded using emergency lights and sirens and located the Ford just off the freeway,” a statement from the CHP said. After the vehicle exited the freeway, officers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Milpas and Ortega streets.

The statement said the driver, Laurie Michelle Andrews, told officers she was lost and, at some point, realized she was driving on the wrong side of the freeway.

Officers said the woman was partying in downtown Santa Barbara and was on her way home.

Officers also arrested the woman’s husband, Michael Andrews, who was a passenger in the SUV, for disorderly conduct.

No injuries were reported.

The incident was the latest in a string of wrong-way driving episodes on the freeway, most of which have ended without injuries.

However, a wrong-way driving incident in September turned fatal. It started just before 6 a.m. on Sept. 23 when a Verizon Communications employee steered his pickup into southbound Highway 101 traffic while heading northbound. After cruising for a few minutes in the fast lane at 70 mph, the pickup smashed head on into a white minivan, killing Jose Raul Reyes Vega of Goleta.

Authorities did not believe alcohol was a factor in this accident.

According to national statistics, wrong-way drivers cause 1.5 percent of all fatal crashes. Authorities say wrong-way drivers often travel in the inside lanes (fast lanes), believing they are traveling the correct way on a two-lane highway.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the vehicle traveled the wrong way in the southbound lanes.

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Get it right please : 12/17/2009

This is ridiculously bad reporting. Everywhere else, it's been reported that she entered the Northbound lanes heading South (makes sense since she was arrested at Milpas which is south of the Bath St onramp) and with regard tot he fatal accident in Sept --- have you forgotten the more recent fatal wrong way driver crash just last month? That one was DUI related and resulted in 2 dead and 2 gravely injured. Quite a tragic epidemic.

LL

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Drunk Drivers : 12/17/2009

What a great couple. A couple that parties together, drives drunk together. What a plague these 2 are. Thanks for publishing their names. Now all their friends and family know. Pieces of crap!

Butt Head

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good hit : 12/17/2009

took out that illegal driver before he killed someone while not having any insurance. i say let her go. she did us a service and perhaps saved american lives. muie bendayho
ps jose raul reyes vega la golta have a long ride to heaven hermano/watch out for the 40 naked vergins

rock bottom

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