Lifesaving Answers for Deadly Highway

VENTURA â€”  Hoping to slow the toll of deadly crashes on California 126, a slew of state, county and local officials peppered the Ventura County Transportation Commission on Friday with plans to make the narrow road safer.

Legislators pledged support in Sacramento. Highway patrolmen promised stricter speed enforcement.

And local officials threw out shopping lists of laws, equipment and public-awareness plans that they maintain can cut down on accidents along the road that has claimed nine lives in the past four weeks.

California Highway Patrol Capt. Michael Porrazzo said the CHP can crack down on speeders with aerial spotters and more patrol cruisers, but deadly accidents along the narrow, heavily traveled corridor are almost inevitable.

“I really don’t want to see that,� he said. “Unfortunately, with the traffic we have on Highway 126, it’s going to happen again. It’s essentially the same picture you’ve always seen on 126.�

The danger is compounded by road-widening work between Fillmore and the Ventura County line, scheduled to continue until December 1998. The stretch between there and the Golden State Freeway will take an additional two years, said Ginger Gherardi, the commission’s executive director.

“This is a real problem, but once we get through it, it’ll be a much-improved facility,� she said. Until then, she added, “It’s important that we have in place as much safety precautions and awareness of what’s going on for the public as possible.�

Spurred by the recent rash of deaths--most recently an 81-year-old Pasadena man whose car drifted off the shoulder and slammed into a steamroller Monday--the commission functioned Friday as a sounding board for numerous ideas and promises of help.

Both state Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) and a spokesman for state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) expressed deep concern over the danger on California 126, and promised they would do what they could in the Legislature to help. O’Connell and Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos) have already written to the California Department of Transportation, pressing the agency to make the highway safer.

Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell submitted a checklist of quick remedies that he said might help:

* Strictly enforce the speed limit.

* Show speeders zero tolerance.

* Increase CHP patrols and ticketing operations for a full month, then continue the stepped-up enforcement at least once a week.

* Install flashing caution signs at the El Dorado Mobile Home Park entrance.

* Install a similar sign near the construction zone, reading, “6 people have died in this construction zone. Don’t be the next! Drive Carefully.�

* Speed up construction.

* Increase safety precautions around the construction zone.

* And cut “rumble strips� into the asphalt median--which make noise when you drive over them--to awaken drowsy drivers who stray too close to the center line.

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy I. Long said she will meet with citizens’ groups to work on grass-roots measures to spread the word about the dangers of California 126.

She suggested posting signs reading, “This is a rural community. Stop and smell the orange blossoms. Slow down.�

*

Caltrans supervisor Bob Sassaman said his department has already posted extra warning flags and signs that threaten double fines for scofflaws in construction zones.

Caltrans plans to cut speed limits back to 45 mph in the area, paint black curbs white, install “No Passing� signs and activate Caltrans’ traveler-advisory radio broadcasts in the area.

And after requested funds arrive from Sacramento, Caltrans will be able to try accelerating its work schedule and pay the CHP to conduct more enforcement, he said.

Commission members also suggested Caltrans move some of the concrete barriers protecting its work crews away from the shoulders somewhat to give drivers more room through the two-lane construction zone.

“But the important thing is getting the word out to the drivers,� said Commissioner John Melton. “We locals understand it. But so many drivers on 126 are just passing through. The truck traffic is just growing and growing and growing. . . . The out-of-town traffic, we’re going to have to get to them too.�