A 26-year-old Hollister woman died Thursday evening on U.S. 101 in Gilroy after her vehicle hit a guardrail and flipped several times.
Sarah Coffman, who was the sole occupant of a 2006 Toyota Scion TC, died shortly after 6:32 p.m., the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office confirmed.
Coffman was headed northbound on the highway, just north of Leavesley Road according to the California Highway Patrol, when she made an “unsafe turning movement” causing her to lose control of the vehicle. CHP Officer Herb Kellogg said Coffman’s vehicle then crashed into a guardrail, overturned several times and came to rest on its roof on Los Animas Avenue.
Coffman was pronounced dead at the scene, Kellogg said, marking the second fatality on Gilroy’s roadways in a week. On Oct. 13, 29-year-old Gabriel Tinajero, of Salinas, crashed into a tree at a high rate of speed in the early morning hours while he was headed southbound on Murray Avenue turning onto Chestnut Avenue. Tinajero was also pronounced dead at the scene.
Kellogg said it is unknown if Coffman was impaired in any way at the time of the accident, but confirmed she was wearing her seatbelt.
