Driver whose car plunged off Big Sur cliff in fatal rollover crash identified

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identified the driver killed in a rollover car crash north of Ragged Point near Big Sur in early April.

John Wheatley, 92, of Castro Valley died in the solo-vehicle crash on Highway 1 between Salmon Creek and Soda Springs, about 7 miles south of Gorda, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Various agencies responded to the site following a call from a passerby late on the afternoon of April 9.

Wheatley’s wrecked vehicle landed about 700 feet down a cliff between Highway 1 and the Pacific Ocean, near the intersection of the highway and Gorda Mountain Road, the CHP said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in motor vehicle crashes from 1996 to 2006, “the over-65 age group had the highest number of fatalities,” followed by women ages 16 to 20.

Men in three age groups — 16 to 20, 21 to 25 and over 65 —had more crash fatalities than men in other age groups, according to the federal agency.

Kathe Tanner

The Tribune

805-781-7904 (voicemails only)

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.