One person died and at least one other person had major injuries after three separate accidents in two hours Saturday snarled traffic on Highway 101.

A Santa Maria woman was killed in a motorcycle accident on Highway 101 just south of the Santa Maria River Bridge about 11:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

Nancy Simmons, 51, was riding behind her husband Ben Simmons, 52, on their 2001 Harley-Davidson motorcycle along with some friends when slow-moving traffic forced them to make a drastic stop.

Ben Simmons applied his brakes, then "laid his motorcycle down," according to a written collision report from the CHP.

The bike abruptly came back up and ejected the couple, the report stated.

Simmons avoided hitting any other vehicles, and both husband and wife were wearing helmets, officials said.

The two were transported to Marian Medical Center, where Nancy Simmons died from her injuries.

Ben Simmons suffered minor injuries, according to the CHP.

Northbound traffic through Santa Maria crawled for more than

90 minutes while investigators cleared the area. At one point, the backup stretched a mile south of Donovan Road, authorities said.

Just minutes after the fatal collision and south of that accident, a recreational vehicle was forced off the highway.

About 11:40 a.m., an RV veered off Highway 101 south of Highway 135 and careened through a fence and into a billboard, the CHP said.

No injuries were reported and the motor home was cleared away within the hour, CHP dispatch reported.

By 1 p.m. all northbound lanes had been reopened, CHP said.

Further south on Highway 101, near the Solomon Summit between Orcutt and Los Alamos, one man was seriously injured after his car reportedly rolled several times in a single-vehicle accident about 1:20 p.m., according to CHP emergency reports.

A CalStar air ambulance landed on a nearby on-ramp and transported the victim to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

A passenger was taken by ground ambulance to Marian Medical Center for treatment of moderate injuries, according to CHP emergency dispatch reports.

A short time later, three people were injured in a head-on collision about 1:35 p.m. between two cars on Highway 1 at Solomon Road in Orcutt, the CHP said. No further details were available.

CalStar was also dispatched for an injured bicyclist lying on the side of the road on West Camino Cielo near Refugio Road in the mountains above Santa Ynez at 11:45 a.m. Saturday.

It was unknown at the time whether the bicyclist had struck a rock or been hit by a vehicle, according to initial CHP reports.