Update: Car Overturns During Morning School Commute

A woman was helped out of her car with a minor injury after her two-door coupe overturned in a Novato intersection during peak drop-off time for two local schools, sources said.

Police radio reports mentioned that a 45-year-old woman crashed when the sun got in her eyes near Novato High School, but late in the afternoon Novato police did not mention the sun as part of the crash's cause.

Novato Fire District Division Chief Mark Heine said the single-car wreck in the Presidents neighborhood was reported at 7:50 a.m. at the intersection of Arthur and Hayes streets, just east of Novato High. The woman had a no visible injuries but complained of some jaw pain, Heine said. She was transported to Novato Community Hospital as a precaution.

Novato police Sgt. Eric Riddell said the preliminary crash report, based partially on witness statements, mentions that the driver was eastbound on Arthur Street when she came up on a slower vehicle that was about to take a left turn onto Hayes Street. The woman tried to pass the slowed car on the right, and the evidence showed that she clipped a parked car and rolled up on it, forcing the rollover, Riddell said.

"It didn't have to do with speed so much," he said. "It's that she just ran out of room."

Riddell said the woman, whose car had an airbag that deployed, was helped out of her car by a neighbor who carefully held her head in case of an injury.

Arthur Street was shut down between Cambridge and Washington streets for about 20 minutes as a tow truck came in to haul away the car, he said. Traffic mounted as parents, teachers and student drivers tried to get to Novato High. Parents making dropoffs at Rancho Elementary School were also affected.

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