Fatal Crash Closes Hwy 12 near Rio Vista

[Gator]

Form News10.net


A crash on Highway 12 near Rio Vista has killed one person and shut down both lanes this morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash happened at about 7:10 a.m. when a car and two trucks collided. At least one of the vehicles was hit broadside at high speed. CHP says at least one person was killed.

Both lanes are shut down until noon. Interstate 80 and Highway 4 are suggested as alternative routes.

[Jim Scarlett]

Oh man, not again, there are a lot of fishermen that use that route everyday and total awareness is of utmost importance. Is the commission of highways doing their job adequately? I suppose not because of the continuing death and injury toll experienced in that area. What is it going to take? Bad news again.

[Charles]

Sad Story. All because some guy was in a hurry trying to pass other cars.

Has anyone noticed the amount of money being spent on Hwy 20 on the way to Clear lake? I think that money would be better spent widening (or at least adding a passing lane or 2) Hwy 12 where there are so many mor collisions.

Just a thought

[Brian]

Oh man, not again, Is the commission of highways doing their job adequately?

I dont know what else you want them to do. Have you driven this route lately? I drive it weekly, they have put up delineators down the center of the road, they have quadrupled the fines, they have put up radar detection signs, they have set the fine for reckless driving up to $2500.00. There are still idiots driving this road daily. Making unsafe passes and always trying to beat the light at the Rio Vista Bridge. I see it every week. You can only hope that it was the stupid jackass that gets killed and not the innocent driver of the other car involved.

[Terry Smith]

Lets see speed limit 55 signs do not pass fines $2500 but you will still see people flying past you passing doing what ever they want. WE CANT STOP STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!! I feel sorry for the people that loose A loved one because of someone else carelessness. Some people just DON'T CARE about others lives and in most cases not there own

[Jim Scarlett]

Yeah, those idiots are the real problem and there will always be a problem on that route unless it is made a one way road or abutments installed down the middle. I travel it at least once per week and have seen the efforts to prevent such accidents, but a little prevention evidently is not enough. I don't know the answer, but I guess until something more stringent is done, accidents will continue. Sad thing, a lot of innocent people took it for a few idiots.

[MIKE TREMONT]

Those selfish IDIOT'S are the problem with most of society. They burn down my street daily with a posted 25MPH sign clearly in view on both ends of the street.
The fix for this problem is ugly and for the most part unattainable, so like Brian said, I hope the idiots are the ones that get what they deserve. It's just sad that to many people are victims of their selfish actions.

[Flippinjigs]

I was on my way to B&W marina that morning to launch. Had to go to plan "B" and launch at the State Park. HWY 12 was closed at HWY 160 you had to turn right or left on HWY 160.

I really don't know what it's going to take to make that highway safer
so many people have passed away traveling that road. I tow my boat from Fairfield at least twice a week to the delta. I only hope that the cars and trucks stay on their side of the road.

Good Fishin

[Stratos278]

I hate that stretch of road!! I only drive it once, maybe twice a year but that is more than enough.

After reading this, I re-visited Gator's previous thread "Hwy 12 Safety Bill Heads To Governor". And I started thinking, and reminiscing. Then thinking some more.

As a young Airman stationed in Sacramento 40 years ago, I drove Highway 37 between Novato and Vallejo many times. That road back then was two lane, dark, winding and narrow, and quite often pea-soup foggy. On more than one occasion, I would have to stick my head out the side window just to see the center line. (I don't think they even knew what a "Fog-line" was back then).

Imagine my surprise when, five years ago, I moved back here and drove 37 again. It is now 4-lane from Novato to Sears Point, there is a concrete center divider from there to the Mare Island bridge with only a couple of breaks for crossroads, the Mare Island drawbridge has been replaced with a high-rise, and the shoulders have been widened to at least a full car-width with rumble strips ("drunk-bumps"). And there is a full-fledged freeway from Mare Is. to I-80.

Now if they could make all these improvements to 37, why can't they do the same thing for 12? Widen the shoulders, install a center divider (even the temporary "Jersey Barriers" would be better than what they have now), flatten a couple of the steeper hills, maybe add a couple more passing lanes. Sure it would take a big appropriation of money, and maybe four or five years to complete, but if even just one life was saved, wouldn't it be worth it?

[Fish Chris]

You asked, "I dont know what else you want them to do" ???

Here's what I want..... I want them to widen H12 where neccessary, and put a solid concrete barrier (with breaks only where needed for turning) from Suisun to Lodi.
A concrete barrier is the only way to reduce fatalities on H12 by 95%+

Do you remember H37 back in the day ? I don't know how many lives were lost there, but I do know it was considered one of the most, if not "the most" deadly stretch of roadway in the US for a time. Then, they finally put in the barriers..... and I think there might have been only a couple fatalities in all of the years since.

Yes, they have done every "cheap and easy" thing they can do for H12, and this might reduce fatailties by 10%. Now they need to do the "expensive" thing to reduce deaths by 85% more.

Fish

[sTony]

Maybe raising the fines out there to let's say the five figure territory might be what's needed in the meantime and get some cops or cameras out there to really enforce it. I got the feeling that if they had some cameras set up throughout the highway and they mailed traffic offenders a $25,000 fine that it just might slow people down and not cost everyone in this state a ton of money and actually raise the revenues to make the future modifications on the backs of the idiots that are forcing the needed change.

Pisses me off that because some people don't ever decide to follow the traffic laws or demonstrate common sense, that the rest of us have to dip into our pocket books even further.

sTony

[Fish Chris]

Hey Tony, I agree, and disagree. Raising the fines to some astronomical number would certainly make "some" foolist drivers think twice..... but then their are some that are just.... well, foolish !

More importantly for this discussion, some of these accidents are simply that... "accidents" ! Somebody comes over a hump... somebody has lost a refriderator, or recliner in the roadway, a driver swerves to avoid it, over corrects, shoots into oncoming traffic, just on this side, of the next hump..... Wham ! It's all over !
Or heck, for this matter, even just an unexpected tire blowout !

I consider myself an excellent driver, but 'stuff' happens. I'll tell you this much, if for no fault of my own, I ever found my truck heading towards the center divider of H12, I'd sure hope they finally put in the concrete barriers !!!

Peace,
Fish

[Guy Kelley]

I debated about jumping into this with my IMHO, But MY Brain Lost Out So Hear Ya Go.

First let me say that I have been driving for 40 plus years. Safe????

NO WAY!!! I got into more accidents and had more tickets than most. I am lucky to be alive. Why The Accidents and Tickets????

Because I was a FRIGGEN IDIOT that's Why!!!!!!!! To dam busy thinking I was cool and a hot to the babes, and not paying attention to what the hell I was doing. Simple as that. Did I learn?
Yes I did, but not until I was nearly killed, now with screws in my hip socket after a bad one when I was 19. and not until I learned the system is designed to cost YOU or ME Money and Time.
Fines, Jail, suspended D/L etc. You Get The Picture?

Ok, nuf of that. I have driven Vasco for years before and after it was improved? I use to drive daily HIWY 4 when it was a two lane between Bay Point and Concord and called Blood Alley. And until recently drove HIWY 12 daily between Rio Vista and Fair Field Rio Vista and Lodi, now I stay on 4 between Brentwood and Stockton. I have seen every type of wreck and fatality you can name. And It Has all Been As A Result Of Drivers Fault. Less than 5% Has Been Due To Road Conditions Or Equipment Failure. The Bad section of Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Lodi doesnt Kill people because it's a bad road. People Kill People Because They Don't Pay attention to the conditions of what they are driving in and because they are either speeding, Passing stupid, drunk or doing something else they should not be doing, unfortunate to the innocent who are involved. Only when it gets too expensive or inconvenience to the few who are making it dangerous to the ones who don't by being safe, courteous drivers will the carnage stop.

That lady who plowed into the kid on a motorcyclist on Vasco last year when traffic was slow in the commute and killed him was not paying attention to what she was doing and the conditions were foggy to boot. The boy is just as dead, she is just as FUBAR'D and people still drive the road just as insane now as then. its human nature. Sorry I don't agree with Cris or stony.

It's only safe when you drive like your life is at risk. Not because CALTRANS spend a hundred million dollars on a road. I rather see the money spent making the roads improved for the general public to use by filling in the dam potholes, adding more commute lanes, CHP doing there jobs better cause there is more money in the budget to hire more officers and local police.

If need be put up the plastic poles on the in tire stretch of road, increase the presence of CHP to 24/7 and double or triple the cost of a ticket. Concrete dividers ether on highway 12 or Vasco road is not the answer in My Book but it makes every one feel safe with a false sense of security, until the idiot jumps the divider at 80 mph or bounces off it cause they are fiddling with the radio and causes a major accident with fatalities.

I rather drive like iam scared to death, instead of feeling like Big Brother (Government) is watching over me. I was a volunteer firemen for Brentwood for 12 years and had to cut many a innocent victim out of there vehicle with the jaws of life due to some other idiot , both young, old male or female. The cause was always the same.They were not paying attention due to some reason other than their driving. Because they were drunk, sober but on a cell phone. having a fight with the passenger, stoned on drugs, playing with a cd, speeding and or something else that they were not suppose to be doing when driving. Its about accepting responsibilities folks. not bad roads.

[Fish Chris]

Hey Guy, I appreciate your honesty

Now, not to brag, but I drive somewhere between 50K and 60K miles per year, both for a living, and for play. During the "for a living part" I typically drive pretty agressively (fast takeoffs, fast stops, fast turns) but at the same time, I come to complete stops, I don't cross over solid lines, I use my turn signals, etc. I also give people the legal right of way (that is, I give them about 3/10's of a second, and if they don't go.... ahhh... they took too long... see ya
And in view of all of this, I have had a perfect driving record, zero tickets, and zero accidents, for many years. In fact, in my 25 years of driving, I have only had one accident (the first year I had my license) which although even that accident was not deemed to be my fault (I wasn't cited for it) with more experience, I might have avoided that idiots mistake.

But anyway, my point is, even though I consider myself to be an excellent driver, I'd sure feel safer if they would just hurry up and put in those damn concrete barriers on ALL of H12 !

Peace,
Fish

[Brian]

I'd sure feel safer if they would just hurry up and put in those damn concrete barriers on ALL of H12 !
Peace,
Fish

Chris, My company is one of two that construct all the concrete Barriers in this state, I hate to tell you, Its not going to happen anytime in the near future, if ever.

[Fish Chris]

Well hey Brian, that really sucks to hear But hey now, since you obviously know some things about those barriers, don't you think they would be a great idea ? Why don't you think we will ever see them ? {probably another $ thing, huh ?} What was the difference on H37 ?

Just curious,
Fish

[Flippinjigs]

Well folks they have put up concrete center divider barriers on Hwy 12. It Has Happened! In the flat area from Suisun to just before the California Train Museum. Two weeks ago going fishing, No dividers. Last week end on my way to fish the delta lots of dividers.

Good Fishin

[Jim Scarlett]

Last night they had another.