Hwy. 101 crash kills 2 people, backs up traffic in SLO County
Update, 6 p.m.:
Traffic remained backed up due to the fatal crash on Highway 101 on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Caltrans District 5, the northbound lanes of the highway were slow due to the collision near Laetitia Winery.
“There is a single lane open in the northbound direction,” the agency wrote in a post on X. “There is no estimate for re-opening.”
The Caltrans QuickMap showed traffic backed up from the winery to just north of Tefft Street as of 6 p.m.
Further information on the circumstances of the crash was not available Tuesday evening.
Original story:
A car crash and fire on Highway 101 left two people dead and blocked traffic in San Luis Obispo County on Tuesday afternoon.
According to a post on X from the California Highway Patrol, drivers should expect extended delays as emergency personnel reach the scene of the collision on the northbound side of Highway 101 near Laetitia Vineyard Drive, south of Arroyo Grande.
The CHP first received a report of a vehicle that ran off of the roadway and into the bushes at around 2:47 p.m., causing a vegetation fire and heavy smoke, according to the CHP’s Traffic Incident Information Page.
Medics were called to the scene and were joined by resources from the Five Cities Fire Authority as the vegetation fire began to fully involve the vehicle, according to the CHP page.
As of 3:30 p.m., the No. 2 northbound lane of the highway was closed, with several emergency responders reporting difficulties reaching the scene of the crash due to traffic, according to the CHP page.
A tow truck was requested to pull the vehicle from where it came to a stop under a tree around 40 feet down an embankment as of 3:42 p.m., according to the CHP page.
According to a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol, two fatalities were confirmed as of 4 p.m.
This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM.
