THREE DIE, SIX INJURED ON HIGHWAY CHP SAYS ATTEMPT TO PASS ON 138 LEADS TO COLLISION.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Staff Writer

A violent head-on collision on Highway 138 Saturday left three people dead and six others injured.

The incident occurred at Fort Tejon Road near the San Bernardino County border at about 6:45 p.m., when the driver of a 2006 Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling west and trying to pass a group of cars crashed into oncoming traffic, a California Highway Patrol report said.

The pickup truck collided with a 2006 Saturn Ion and then hit a 1992 Toyota Tercel driving directly behind it.

Willida Lavonne Hughes, a 52-year-old Lancaster woman who was driving the Saturn, was pronounced dead at the scene.

In the Tercel were Alex Vincent Villabisencio, 29, of Corona and his 3-year-old daughter, Hailey Aaliyah Hinsley, both of whom also died at the scene.

Marthel Aguilar, 21, of Arvin, who was driving the truck, was taken to Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville with moderate injuries.

Aguilar was speeding, according to the report.

The fatalities were the first on Highway 138 -- known as one of the state's most perilous roadways -- in more than a year.

CHP Lt. Andria Whitmer said Aguilar could be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

The incident occurred on a hilly section of the road where it is especially difficult to see oncoming traffic, Whitmer said.

She said few people even attempt passing other vehicles in that area, partly because of the CHP's public information campaign warning motorists of the potentially devastating consequences of doing so.

``I really don't understand why people are in that much of a rush that they'd take such a risk to just be one minute ahead,'' Whitmer said.

``Is passing really worth dying over or killing someone over?''

Whitmer said the public information drive is part of the CHP's Stay Alert, Stay Alive program aimed at Highway 138. In addition to raising public awareness, the CHP has beefed up enforcement of the 55 mph speed limit, including adding aerial patrols.

The state Transportation Department already has widened several portions of Highway 138 from two to four lanes. Highway 138 eventually will become an entirely four-lane roadway.

``By opening up the roadway and giving it more lanes speeds will increase, but it'll be much safer because at least people won't be crossing into oncoming traffic,'' she said.

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