Posted on Mon, Oct. 26, 2009

Two San Luis Obispo County residents were among four killed in a traffic accident Friday on Highway 46 in Kern County, according to a report by the Taft Midway Driller newspaper Web site.

Los Osos residents Walt Elliot, 84, and his wife, Shirlene Soto, 62, were killed in a head-on collision, as were two occupants of the other car, Jose Alberto Sanchez, 25, of Avenal, and his 1-year-old son, Nathanial, according to a CHP report.

A fifth person, a 25-year-old female in the car driven by Sanchez, was seriously injured. Her name was not immediately available.

Sanchez, headed east, was passing a tractor-trailer just east of Highway 33 when he collided with the westbound car driven by Elliot, according to the Driller’s account of the CHP report.

Highway 46 was closed for about 6 hours, reopening at approximately 5:45 p.m. Friday.

— Tribune staff report