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Multiple accidents occur during storm
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Posted by editor Sat Apr 8, 2006 09:40:01 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments A spring blizzard blasted the Tehachapi area on April 5 creating havoc on town streets and surrounding roads, as  well as on Highway 58.

Officer Stephen Hunsaker of the California Highway Patrol said the snow came down so fast and heavy that snow plows couldn’t keep up with clearing the snow off the freeway.

That, coupled with the wind that turned the freeway into a river of black ice, were factors in the decision to close the freeway from Towerline Road to Tehachapi at approximately 2:30 p.m. The freeway was reopened at 7 p.m.

Hunsaker said the CHP handled two wrecks on the freeway and one on Highline Road.

“Basically the accidents were caused by people driving too fast for the conditions,” Hunsaker said. “They need to slow down for bad weather, especially snow.”
Hunsaker reminds drivers that although having a 4-wheel drive might be helpful in stormy weather, it is not infallible.

Ironically, the driver of one car that was totalled on Highway 58 was the witness of another bad accident the following day in town.

Joanne Wilson of Concord was returning home from visiting family in Arizona when her car slipped on the the freeway just west of Tehachapi.
She said the car hit the median and spun around. Traveling with her were her son and daughter-in-law.

“People were going so fast they didn’t see us on the side of the road,” Wilson said.
The following day, she came into Tehachapi with an Enterprise Car Rental driver to retrieve items from her totaled car. As she and the driver followed a man in a truck, who was taking them to the wrecking yard, the man was hit by a big truck on West H Street, between Mill and Green streets.

The accident is under investigation.

Bear Valley Springs also had a number of weather-related accidents. Sgt. Dave Watts of Bear Valley Police Department said Cumberland Drive had to be closed for six hours due to an accident on that road. But, like the wrecks on the freeway, there were no serious injuries.

Sgt. Joe Giuffre of the Kern County Sheriff’s Department Tehachapi substation also reported that his department were called to several accidents throughout the area.
Side bar

Stopping distance information from the California Highway Patrol
A car in good condition with good brakes and tires traveling on dry pavement 20 mph will require at least 19 feet to stop.

The same car traveling 20 mph on an icy road will need 100 feet to stop. If the car has reinforced chains, it will  take 75 feet before it can stop.

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