Motorcyclist killed in head-on collision involving SLO County driver
A Santa Maria man died Sunday after his motorcycle slammed into a car near Sisquoc in rural Santa Barbara County, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The unidentified 18-year-old was traveling southbound on Foxen Canyon Road south of Tepusquet Road near Sisquoc at approximately 9:50 a.m. Sunday, when the collision occurred, the CHP said in a news release.
“For reasons yet to be determined,” the CHP said, the man allowed his Yahama R6 motorcycle to drift over the double yellow lines into a Honda Accord driven by 42-year-old Bobbie Dowdy of Arroyo Grande, who was traveling in the northbound lane.
The rider was thrown off his motorcycle as a result of the head-on crash, according to the release.
“Several witnesses at the scene assisted providing aid to the motorcycle rider pending the arrival of emergency personnel,” the CHP said, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorcyclist was not identified by name pending notification of relatives.
Dowdy and her passenger, Johnnie Fernandes of Arroyo Grande, were not injured in the crash, the release said.
Foxen Canyon Road was shut down for a time in the area of the collision, about 10 miles east of Orcutt, Noozhawk reported.
“Weather was not a factor in the collision, nor were drugs or alcohol intoxication,” the CHP said in the release.
The crash is being investigated by the CHP’s Santa Maria Area office with the assistance of the Santa Barbara County Coroners’ Office.
This story was originally published March 5, 2023 at 7:06 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Arroyo Grande resident Bobbie Dowdy was driving southbound, not northbound, on Foxen Canyon Road near Sisquoc when the fatal crash occurred. The error has been corrected.
