Ralston Road, Siskiyou County — A routine Wednesday morning commute turned into a scene of coordinated chaos on March 4 when a Siskiyou County work van swerved into oncoming traffic, triggering a violent head-on collision that injured five people—including three children—and required a massive emergency response to a rural stretch of County Road A-12.
The crash occurred at approximately 9:25 a.m. at the intersection of A-12 and Ralston Road, just as dispatchers at the Yreka Communications Center began fielding multiple frantic 9-1-1 calls reporting a serious collision between a gold 2015 Ford Transit Van and a blue 2022 Ford Escape.
According to witness statements gathered by California Highway Patrol officers on scene, the Transit van—operated by a Siskiyou County employee traveling eastbound at roughly 55 mph—abruptly crossed the center line and slammed head-on into the westbound Escape, driven by a 26-year-old Montague woman who was also traveling at highway speed.
