2:35 P.M. The California Highway Patrol has released the names of two men killed from Tuesday morning's Interstate 80 wrong-way crash.
Zahid Arshad, 25, is from South San Francisco and Nicholas Sharma, 24, is from Hayward.
Arshad and Sharma were traveling in a Lexus going the right way on I-80, when a driver in a pickup truck, going the opposite direction, slammed into them.
Officials have not released the identity of the driver in the pickup truck.
9 A.M. Another wrong-way driver crash on Interstate 80 has claimed three lives. Interstate 80 was closed overnight near Madison Avenue after the two-vehicle crash. CHP Officer Chad Hertzell says its dispatch center received a call around 12:30 a.m. that the driver of a pickup truck was heading eastbound in the westbound fast lane.
"As they did they noticed a collision had already occurred in the fast lane of the westbound side," says Hertzell. "They passed it on the eastbound side and in the rearview mirror they could see the truck burst into flames."
Hertzell says the pick up truck hit a Lexus that had two men inside it who were killed on impact. The driver of the truck was killed in the fire. Authorities have not been able to identify if the pick up truck driver was a man or a woman.
Tests will be conducted to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash.
Hertzell says drivers at night should avoid the fast lane-- as that's often where wrong-way drivers end up. Hertzell says drivers can also avoid crashes if they keep their eyes up and looking at the road ahead-- not just beyond the hood of their cars.
"No matter how inebriated they are they instinctively know that opposing traffic should be on their left side," he says. "And they're going to get all the way over to their right so opposing traffic is on their left so that's why we're seeing these guys drive in the fast lane."
This is the third wrong-way crash in the last month-- all have involved multiple fatalities.
-Capital Public Radio Staff
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