Not long after reading about Sunday’s three-fatality crash on
Highway 152 Tuesday morning in the Free Lance, I experienced that
highway’s scary character for myself.
Not long after reading about Sunday’s three-fatality crash on Highway 152 Tuesday morning in the Free Lance, I experienced that highway’s scary character for myself.
I had gone to Gilroy to pick up a part for my car and had continued to Morgan Hill to check out the new Trader Joe’s. I am an ardent advocate of staying in Hollister to shop, it’s true, but the lure of a new Trader Joe’s was impossible to resist.
Heading home on Highway 152, I was planning to take Frazer Lake and Shore Roads into town. I’ve done this dozens of times, having commuted north for many years. I know the turnoff to Frazer Lake Road is marked with large yellow and black arrows, and I usually know when to slow down to make the turn.
But Tuesday night, something happened. Was I changing the radio station? Singing out loud to a Christmas carol? Pondering my Christmas list? In any case, by the time I noticed some yellow and black arrows, I realized I was actually past my turn.
My first plan was to follow 152 and turn right on Bloomfield Road. But in the dark, and the growing fog, while I saw the sign that said Bloomfield Road was approaching, by the time I saw the road itself, it was too late to turn.
As the fog thickened and the stream of traffic lights coming the other way dazzled me, I focused on the white line to my right and tried to remember what to look for next. I thought of pulling over to phone my husband, but how could he help me when I wasn’t even sure where I was?
I next saw a sign for San Felipe Road, but it too whizzed past before I could slow and turn.
Was I going too fast? In my shaken state, I felt pressured by the car behind me, even though it wasn’t tailgating.
The road seemed unusually dark, and if there were houses, few were lit with holiday decorations that would have reassured me.
What was I afraid of?
I knew that eventually I would come to Casa de Fruta and be able to turn around. But in the fog and dark, on a road I have rarely driven alone, disoriented and confused, I could feel my anxiety growing.
Re-reading the article about Sunday’s crash, I could easily see how the driver, perhaps even less familiar with the road, could have made one of several kinds of errors that resulted in the accident and the deaths of his passengers.
He might have been attempting to turn onto a road that wasn’t where he thought it was. He might have swerved to avoid a hazard, real or imaginary. He might have taken his attention off the road for only an instant, and in the dark and rain on a tricky road, an instant was too long.
What’s the answer? I know officials from both San Benito and Santa Clara counties are looking at the problem. An overpass where 152 meets 156, and widening part of the road are suggested solutions.
Better signage would also help, since the road is probably traveled by as many strangers as commuters. Maybe better marking of the center and edges of the road would help.
I was awfully glad to get to Fairview Road, even though I was still so disoriented that Fairview wasn’t what I expected to reach. But once on it, I could relish the joy of knowing that I knew my way home.
