Five Victims Identified In Deadly Highway 12 Head-On Collision: Two Toddlers, Three Women Dead

A high-speed, head-on collision on California’s Highway 12 on Saturday night has left two toddlers and three young women dead: deaths that could have been avoided, according to Highway Patrol. The coroner’s office today announced that the five victims identified in the deadly highway 12 head-on collision are two toddlers and three young women, all of whom are Modesto, California residents. Fox 40named the three victims of the head-on collision whose identities have been released.

“[three of the five] victims who were identified early Sunday afternoon are three-year-old Adelayana Ortiz, 17-year-old Aaliyah Buenrostro and 21-year-old Annalicia Montoya,” said Fox 40?s report. “The identities of the remaining victims will be released after the families are notified.”

The tragic and deadly highway 12 head-on collision occurred at about 5:35 P.M. on Saturday evening near Rio Vista in California. All five passengers in the Honda Civic were killed when the Honda’s driver — travelling east on the two-lane highway in Isleton — collided at high speed with a Chevy Silverado while trying to overtake multiple vehicles.

California Highway Patrol told Fox 40 earlier today that the five victims identified in the deadly highway 12 head-on collision — all under the age of 25 — could have saved and the collision avoided. CHP Public Information officer Michael Bradley explained that the driver of the Honda Civic — carrying two toddlers and two other young women — was attempting to overtake a number of vehicles at high speed when it collided head-on with a Chevy Silverado.

“Traffic in his area usually travels 55 to 60 mph, and when you’re passing at that speed and the other vehicles coming the other direction, passing is unsafe at that point,” said Bradley to Fox 40.

Which of the women was driving the vehicle at the time of the collision is not known. Four of the five victims identified in the deadly highway 12 head-on collision are known to have died at the scene — most likely, instantly — while one toddler was taken to hospital, where she died shortly after.

“… four of the five passengers — two women, a teenager and one toddler — died on the scene. One other three-year-old girl in the car was transported to the hospital with serious injuries, but later succumbed to her injuries,” reports Fox 40.

The four Silverado passengers suffered minor injuries in the head-on collision and were transported to hospital for treatment and recovery.

The deaths of the five victims identified in the deadly Highway 12 head-on collision, including a teenager and three toddlers, are a tragic and earth-shattering reminder of the often-forgotten danger of driving. The Association for Safe International Road Travel states that nearly 1.3 million people die in road collisions each year — that’s over 3,200 a day — with over half of the victims being young adults aged 15-44 years old.

“Road crashes are the leading cause of death among young people ages 15-29, and the second leading cause of death worldwide among young people ages 5-14,” states ASIRT, making Saturday’s head-on collision a tragically typical incidence of deaths on the road.

CHP officer Michael Bradley emphasized the tragic and fatal errors in judgment that lead young drivers — who are, by nature, more impulsive — to attempt maneuvers on the road, such as that which led to Saturday’s deadly highway 12 head-on collision and the five young victims’ deaths.

“It’s unfortunate that somebody would take that chance on a busy stretch of freeway here and it would make a difference of maybe two or three minutes in your travel time,” Bradley said to Fox 40.

The deadly highway 12 head-on collision had traffic backed up on the Lodi-Fairfield thoroughfare for hours following the occurrence. The remaining two names of the five victims identified in the head-on collision are expected to be released in the coming days.

[Photo by David McNew/Getty Images]