A Sacramento resident was killed in a collision at the
intersection of Sunnyslope and Fairview roads Sunday
– part of a stretch of road police say has seen four fatal
accidents in the past two years.
A Sacramento resident was killed in a collision at the intersection of Sunnyslope and Fairview roads Sunday – part of a stretch of road police say has seen four fatal accidents in the past two years.
Andrew Anthony Rodriguez was killed when he violated the right of way at the intersection, colliding with a vehicle carrying three Hollister residents.
Fairview Road has almost 20 intersections along it, which makes it dangerous, California Highway Patrol officials said. In the past two years, 55 collisions have occurred along it, resulting in five deaths, according to the CHP.
“Anytime you have a stretch of roadway with that kind of cross-traffic and a high volume of traffic, you’re going to have a high number of collisions,” she CHP Officer Terry Mayes.
The San Benito County Public Works Department hopes to cut down on the number of accidents by placing a temporary stop light at the intersection of Sunnyslope and Fairview within the next three months, said Arman Nazemi, assistant director of public works.
“Anytime you have so many accidents in an area, we decided that a signal would be a safe remedy to that intersection,” Nazemi said.
Rodriguez was killed when the 2002 Ford Focus he was driving collided with a 2002 Chevy Tahoe at 3:15 p.m. Sunday.
The Tahoe’s driver, Hollister resident Richard Rhodes, 46, suffered minor injuries. The two passengers in the Tahoe, 44-year-old Rene Rhodes and a 15-year-old male, both of Hollister, were not injured, according to the CHP.
Rhodes had been drinking but was not considered to be under the influence; alcohol was not a factor in the accident, said CHP Officer Brad Voyles.
Rodriguez, who was in Hollister visiting family, was stopped at the intersection of Sunnyslope and Fairview roads waiting to make a right turn onto Fairview heading south. He changed his mind and decided to make a left turn, following a vehicle in front of him that had just made a left turn onto Fairview heading north.
“It’s possible his view was obstructed by the vehicle in front of him,” Voyles said. “The Tahoe had slowed down for the first car, but he was still traveling 35 mph and hit right into the driver’s door.”
Rhodes kept his brakes applied in an attempt to avoid a collision but was unable to.
Rodriguez was trapped inside his vehicle for 45 minutes while emergency personnel worked to extract him, Voyles said.
“They did a lot of work on the vehicle just trying to get him out of the car,” he said.
Rodriguez was taken by ambulance to Hazel Hawkins Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. He was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m. Sunday.
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed tomorrow, according to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department.
During the past few years, work has been done to make the road less dangerous, such as adding a right turn lane on Fairview Road at the Sunnyslope juncture.
The low-cost signal public works is planning to install will be placed on a wooden pole with cables across the top that keep the signal in place, Nazemi said.
As development occurs and traffic along the road increases, in the future Fairview could be widened into a four-lane road with full-fledged stop lights, Nazemi said.
Currently, much of the problem lies with the drivers, not the road itself, Mayes said.
“You’ve got a rural area with animals and lots of houses, and drivers have to be aware and anticipate the unexpected,” she said. “The reason 90 percent of the collisions occur is from right of way violations – it’s all about reaction and perception time.”
Many motorists miscalculate the time it takes to safely turn onto Fairview Road when a car is approaching at a high rate of speed, Mayes said.
“You’re speed is zero at that point,” she said. “So you’re losing ground just by virtually being static.”
As more and more people move to the rural area and traffic on Fairview increases, the responsibility falls on motorists to take their safety into their own hands, she said.
“It becomes incumbent upon motorists to drive more attentively,” she said. “Especially at those intersections – it is only on rare occasions that we have a crash that doesn’t occur at an intersection.”
