Driver dies in crash with big rig on Highway 101 in South San Jose

SAN JOSE — A woman died after her SUV collided with a semi-trailer on Highway 101 near the Highway 85 connector late Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The collision was reported at 11:42 p.m. on northbound Highway 101 approaching Highway 85 in South San Jose. According to a CHP news release, a 2016 Mazda crashed into the back of 1 2011 Freightliner, lodging itself under the trailer. The driver, described only as a woman, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her identity was not immediately released pending her formal identification and notification of her next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.

The big rig driver, a 56-year-old Sunnyvale man who called in the collision, was not injured. The CHP dispatch log initially described the victim’s vehicle as a BMW, but that was since revised.

According to the CHP, the Freightliner was traveling about 55 mph in one of the right lanes when the collision occurred, and the Mazda was traveling at an “unsafe” speed. There was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs factored into the crash.

Anyone with information about the collision for investigators can contact the CHP Hollister-Gilroy area field office at 408-848-2324.