A driver was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Friday morning on Highway 154 near San Antonio Creek Road, according to Captain David Sadecki, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. County Fire, as well Sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers, responded to the accident, where the driver was declared dead at the scene. The name of the driver — who was the only person in the car — is not being released pending family notification.
According to CHP spokesman Jonathan Gutierrez, the driver’s Toyota sedan hit an embankment near the dirt shoulder of the road at approximately 5:30 a.m. and was found facing westbound in the eastbound lanes. The highway was closed for nearly three hours after the accident, which Gutierrez said the CHP is still investigating.
Sadecki said firefighters initially thought evidence at the scene could have been hazardous material, but the HazMat team determined no such material was present.
[UPDATE, December 9]: The driver of the car has been identified as Keri Dee Savala, a Santa Barbara resident, according to a statement released by Gutierrez. Savala was driving her car, a 1993 Toyota Camry, eastbound along 154 at the time of accident, Gutierrez said. She was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.