SLO County driver able to walk away from severe crash on Highway 1
A crash on a busy stretch of Highway 1 in Cambria on Jan. 23 left a severely damaged vehicle on its side in a forested gully, near the tree the car had hit.
The driver reportedly was able to get out and walk away, according to firefighters at the scene adjacent to the highway, about a tenth of a mile north of Ardath Drive. The crash occurred shortly before 7 p.m.
CHP spokesman Pat Seebart said that the driver, Paul Molloy of Maricopa, was “driving his 2001 Oldsmobile Bravada at approximately the speed limit when he fell asleep and drove off the road and hit a tree.”
The Cambria Fire Department said in a news release “that the occupant of the vehicle had self-extricated themself and began to walk south on Highway 1.”
A San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputy caught up with the occupant, who was then assessed by law enforcers and medics from the Cambria Community Healthcare District, the release said.
The driver complained of neck pain but wasn’t taken to a hospital, the release said.
Seebart said that “the driver was not impaired, but he was sleepy after a long day at work.”
Firefighters secured the vehicle “to ensure that it did not start a wildland fire or pose any additional hazards, while it waited to be towed away,” the release said.
Seebart said recovering the vehicle was too difficult for the local tow company, and a firm from Paso Robles had to pull the car up and out of the gully.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 1:10 PM.
