Car/truck crash causes fatality on 101 Freeway

A man died at the scene of a collision between the car he was driving and a tractor-trailer rig on the No. 4 lane of the 101 Freeway in Thousand Oaks, just west of Westlake Boulevard.

The accident took place around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning when a silver Mercedes Benz appeared in front of a tractor-trailer driven by Mark Sanders, 49, of South Gate.

The man who died was driving alone. He wasn't identified by California Highway Patrol officers because his next of kin hadn't been notified, said CHP special duty officer Brandon Mumme.

The car was crushed against a guardrail, Mumme said.

"According to the man driving the rig, he was just slowing the rig for traffic ahead and he didn't know if the vehicle that appeared in front of him came from the on-ramp or the No.3 lane," Mumme said.

The cause for traffic slowing down before the crash is unknown, Mumme said.

When Sanders saw the car in front of him in the slow lane, he braked hard but was unable to avoid a rear-end collision with the Mercedes.

--Nancy Needham