Sonoma County Riddled With Recent Colisions

About 30 traffic collisions have been reported today in Sonoma County since 6 a.m., Monday, including a series of crashes at noon that involved 10 vehicles on U.S. Highway 101, a California Highway Patrol officer said this afternoon.

The collisions on Highway 101 caused significant backups, Officer Jon Sloat said.

A 16-year-old girl came close to being submerged when her vehicle landed in a creek on Bodega Highway near Grandview Road around 12:30 p.m., Sloat said. She suffered minor injuries in the crash.

A Chevrolet sedan crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a Toyota on state Highway 116 at Mill Station Road in Sebastopol around 12:50 p.m., Sloat said. The 70-year-old Graton man driving the Toyota suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Palm Drive Hospital, Sloat said.

Kirk Elrod, 43, of Sebastopol, the Chevrolet driver, was allegedly under the influence of prescription medication and was arrested on suspicion of DUI, Sloat said.

Sloat advised drivers to drive cautiously in the wet and windy weather that has broken the dry spell in the Bay Area.

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