Executive Summary
- Two people were killed in a head-on collision on U.S. 395 Sunday night.
- The crash involved a wrong-way driver traveling southbound in northbound lanes.
- Both vehicles, a Hyundai Santa Fe and a Subaru, sustained significant fire damage.
- CHP’s Major Accident Investigation Team is leading the ongoing inquiry.
Two individuals were killed Sunday night following a head-on collision involving a wrong-way driver on U.S. Highway 395 near the California-Nevada state line. The crash, which resulted in a vehicle fire and the closure of all northbound lanes, prompted a multi-agency emergency response.
According to dispatch logs from the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the incident began shortly after 7:30 p.m. when authorities received reports of a vehicle traveling southbound in the northbound lanes near the Bordertown area. Minutes after the initial alerts, a head-on collision occurred between a Hyundai Santa Fe and a Subaru passenger vehicle.
Witnesses at the scene described seeing flames erupt immediately following the impact. Emergency responders, including personnel from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP), and Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, arrived to find at least one vehicle engulfed in fire. Dispatch records indicate that one victim was pronounced dead inside a vehicle, while emergency crews performed CPR on a second individual who also succumbed to their injuries.
The CHP has deployed its Major Accident Investigation Team to the site. As of 9 p.m. Sunday, all northbound lanes remained closed to facilitate the investigation and debris clearance. Authorities advised motorists to utilize Red Rock Road as an alternate route while the scene remained active.
Investigative Outlook
The activation of the Major Accident Investigation Team signals a complex reconstruction effort is underway to determine the specific point of entry for the wrong-way driver and potential contributing factors such as impaired driving or environmental visibility. Given the high-speed nature of U.S. 395 and the severity of the head-on impact, investigators will likely focus on forensic mapping of the scene to understand the mechanics of the collision before reopening the corridor. This incident underscores the persistent danger of wrong-way driving events on divided highways, often resulting in high-fatality rates due to the compounding velocity of opposing vehicles.
