1.  Daily Review, The (Hayward, CA)

September 11, 2004
   
Section: Local & Regional News

Despite some progress, Vasco still playing the Grim Reaper
Author: Mike White, STAFF WRITER

Article Text:

Since August of last year, when he lost his wife in an accident on Vasco Road, Jeff Altman has told the Legislature several times about the need for tougher traffic laws. He's also participated in a community action group seeking better safety measures.

Some progress has been made. Other efforts have failed.

Still,But the carnage continues.

On Friday morning, Altman was driving to work along Vasco when he passed a horrific accident in which four people were killed and two others were critically injured.

When he passed the accident, "my stomach turned," said Altman, of Brentwood. "A lot of measures have been taken, but none have been completed to prevent a head-on collision. A barrier along the road -- that's the only thing that could have prevented it."

The deadly accident Friday was the first on Vasco since Altman's wife, Patricia, died last year. Her car collided with a utility trailer that had broken loose from a truck traveling in the opposite direction.

Joanne Flynn knows full well how the families and friends of those who died Friday are feeling. Patricia Altman was her best friend.

"My prayers and thoughts are with the families," Flynn said. "It's a nightmare for them today."

Patricia Altman was the seventh person to die in accidents on Vasco in 2003, and the 10th since 2001. Once a seldom-used country road, 16-mile Vasco Road has become a major route linking eastern Contra Costa County with southern Alameda County.

Altman's death and the others triggered safety efforts. State Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, introduced legislation that would have created a double-fine zone for the road, but the bill died last month after legislators amended it to include roads throughout the state.

Torlakson will reintroduce the bill as soon as possible, perhaps in December, said aide Robert Oakes. Torlakson and Oakes discussed the issue Friday after learning about the accident on Vasco.

In the meantime, "please, please slow down on Vasco," Oakes said.

Contra Costa County workers next week will begin installing a center-line "rumble strip" on a 12-mile stretch of Vasco between Walnut Boulevard and the Alameda County line. The raised center strips are designed to discourage drivers from illegally passing cars.

On Friday, many people, including Flynn, said the rumble strips would not have prevented the kind of erratic driving that authorities said may have contributed to the accident. What is needed, they said, is a freeway with a center divider.

"The rumble strips have proven effective on two-lane roads in other areas," Contra Costa County Supervisor Millie Greenberg said. "But everyone is in agreement here that we need a four-lane divided highway on Vasco."

Correspondent Nate Tabak contributed to this report.

(c) 2004 The Daily Review. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
Record Number: 2395127


      2.  Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - August 13, 1994

3 WOMEN HURT IN FREEWAY COLLISIONS,  LOOSE TRAILER CROSSED MEDIAN IN SIMI    
     Three women were injured and four cars damaged in a series of traffic collisions Friday that began when a loose trailer crossed the Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway (118) median, officials said.The trailer broke loose from an eastbound truck at 9:25 a.m., crossed a dirt median east of Erringer Road and immediately triggered three westbound car crashes, the California Highway Patrol reported."The trailer came across the freeway, and I was trying to stop, but I...



       3.  The Orange County Register - August 12, 2003

Boat trailer turns deadly on the 55 // Motorcycle rider loses life as nautical cargo smashes into him.   
     TUSTIN A trailer carrying a 22-foot sailboat came loose during rush hour Monday morning, careening across the northbound Costa Mesa (55) Freeway and killing a motorcyclist. The driver of the U-Haul rental truck towing the boat stopped, walked back and looked at the motorcyclist dying on the pavement. Then, police said, he fled. ``He became hysterical,'' California Highway Patrol Lt. John Marinez said. ``Witnesses said he just turned and ran back to the..


       4.   Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - December 16, 2004

FREAK ACCIDENT TURNS FATAL,  TRAILER COMES LOOSE FROM SUV, LEADING TO DEADLY CRASH   
     CANYON COUNTRY - A Lancaster man driving a pickup truck was killed Wednesday on Sierra Highway when a trailer came loose from the SUV in front of him and caused a third vehicle to lose control and collide with the pickup, authorities said.The victim, who investigators said was in his mid-60s, was driving north in the 15100 block of Sierra Highway about 12:20 p.m. when a southbound Ford Expedition swerved to avoid the runaway trailer and crashed into the driver's side door of...



        5. RUNAWAY TRAILER KILLS MAN   

     California Highway Patrol officers Thursday were still trying to determine what caused a utility trailer to come loose from a truck and crash into another vehicle, killing a Fresno man.Dead is Robert Wesley Babcock, 28.The accident was reported shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 99 in southern Tulare County, less than one mile from the Kern County border and north of Delano.Babcock was taken to the Delano Regional Medical
Center in Kern County where he was pronounced...


        6.  Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA) - May 7, 2002

Cops and courts   
     Jene Berry, 39, of Lodi, was driving south on Highway 1 about 3:10 a.m. in a 1998 Mack truck full of cement when the two trailers he was towing came loose. He had just left the RMC Pacific Materials cement plant in Davenport. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Frank Koss said investigators do not know why the trailers came loose, but both tipped. The road remained open but one lane was blocked for several hours while workers cleared the wreck. Berry was not injured.FELTON SPCA...


       7.    Redding Record Searchlight (CA) - September 24, 1995

PEDESTRIAN AND MOTORISTS FLEE RUNAWAY FISHING BOAT   
     A Tennessee man and a Redding couple are unhurt after an aluminum boat and its trailer broke loose from a truck and rammed them on Eureka Way.Twenty-seven-year-old Jim Wilson of Memphis, Tenn., was walking along the side of Eureka Way near the Sunset Market in Redding on Saturday afternoon when he saw an 18-foot boat and trailer bearing down on him - fast.''I thought I was going to die,'' he said.Only seconds before, the boat and...


Fresno Bee, The (CA) - September 27, 1990

LUMBER TRAILER BREAKS LOOSE, DEMOLISHES MOBILE HOME   
     A runaway trailer loaded with more than 10 tons of lumber crashed into a mobile home park Wednesday morning, destroying a trailer home and damaging two parked cars, Fowler police reported.The occupants of the trailer home, Margarita Bolima and her son, Richard McKay, were not injured, police said."They were not home," said Officer Michael Scheppegrell. "They were at the manager's office."Bolima and her son reportedly had...
.

Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA) - June 26, 2006

Loose trailer causes 4,000 to lose power   
     A small trailer that broke loose from a vehicle, struck a pole in San Anselmo and caused a power outage early Sunday morning, police said.The outage affected about 4,000 people, police said.Roger Christiansen of Fairfax was driving east in the 900 block of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at about 5:45 a.m. Sunday when the trailer he was towing released from the rear of the vehicle, police said.It rolled off the road and hit a power pole, according to San Anselmo police.Several...



Sun, The (San Bernardino, CA) - August 18, 2006

Sig-alert issued in five-car freeway crash   
     FONTANA - A stakebed truck driver, whose forklift came loose from his trailer, triggered a five-car pileup on Interstate 10 this morning.California Highway Patrol officers issued a Sig-alert and closed down the fast lane and the one next to it on the eastbound 10 at Cherry Avenue. The Sig-alert was expected to be in effect about an hour, said CHP Officer Sean Cooper.Officers said the 7:45 a.m. crash occurred when several drivers were unable to avoid a forklift that came loose from a...


Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA) - May 10, 1996

Tale of a horse trailer has a hitch The racehorse has minor injuries in the Highway 79 accident.   
     TEMECULA One minute, the horse was riding peacefully in the back of a trailer.The next, he was knocked onto his side, probably wondering what happened.After a trailer hitch worked loose from the pickup, the trailer rolled free for a few seconds and fell over.Irish Commitment, a 4-year-old racehorse, suffered only a few cuts above his right eye and a scrape to his chest in the midafternoon accident on Highway 79 South and La Paz Street.Francisco Rodriguez, the...



     Fresno Bee, The (CA) - October 13, 1989

CATTLE TRAILER LISTS AND TOPPLES NEAR LATON DOUBLE-DECKER WITH 20 STEERS TIES UP TRAFFIC FOR2-1/2 HOURS   
     A double-deck cattle trailer carrying 20 steers to a slaughterhouse overturned Thursday near Laton, injuring one of the animals and tying up traffic for about 2-1/2 hours.The accident happened at noon on Fowler Avenue south of Elkhorn Avenue about three miles north of Laton. The lengthy tie-up occurred while the steers were transferred from one trailer to another.Ron Caetano, 23, of Lemoore was driving a rig pulling two double-deck cattle trailers when the rear trailer went out...


Whittier Daily News, The (CA) - February 4, 2008

Around the Region   
     BALDWIN PARK - A driver was killed on a freeway Monday when a tire came loose from a trailer and struck him, officials said.The dead man was identified as 48-year-old Gil Tae Kim of Rancho Cucamonga, California Highway Patrol Officer Edmund Zorrilla said.The incident, which triggered a three-car crash, was reported just before 11 a.m. on the 605 Freeway near Ramona Boulevard, Zorrilla said.A Long Beach man was driving a 2006 Ford F-350 pickup truck towing a trailer northbound on...



Ventura County Star (CA) - December 30, 2006

Driver flees after crash on 126   
     Two portable toilets were destroyed Friday when a tractor-trailer collided with a loose flatbed trailer on Highway 126 near Fillmore, the California Highway Patrol reported.The accident occurred about 10:50 a.m. when a pickup pulling the toilets on a flatbed trailer drove across the Fillmore railroad crossing heading east.The trailer disconnected and a tractor-trailer, which was heading west, struck it."It obliterated the Port-A-Potties," said CHP Officer...


Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA) - September 12, 2000

Trailer hits motorcyclist   
     COLOMA A runaway trailer got the better of apassing motorcyclist on Highway 49 Saturday, according to California HighwayPatrol officers. Anthony Michael Steneck, a 39-year-old Placervilleresident, was flown to Sutter Roseville Medical Center with road rash andmultiple open fractures to his left leg after a trailer broke loose from itstruck and ran into his 1983 Yamaha motorcycle.Officers said 50-year-oldDavid A. Chandler of Placerville was driving southbound on Highway 49, northof...


Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) - March 7, 2004

TRAILER DRIVER KILLED IN 710 CRASH ID'D   
     A Norwalk man was identified as the tractor-trailer driver who was killed in an accident on the Long Beach (710) Freeway near the Artesia (91) Freeway, a coroner's official said Saturday.Armando Felix, 34, was pronounced dead after the accident, which happened Friday on the northbound 710, according to coroner's Lt. Erik Arbuthnot.A California Highway Patrol statement said Felix was driving his tractor at 2:10 p.m., when a trailer came loose from another...


Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) - November 12, 1999

WEST COVINA CRASH KILLS 2, INJURES 8   
     Two people were killed Thursday when a trailer came loose from a car carrier, setting off a fiery chain-reaction crash in West Covina involving three big rigs and 15 vehicles in all, authorities said.The accident happened shortly before 3 p.m. on the eastbound San Bernardino (10) Freeway just west of Vincent Avenue, said California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Perez. He said two people were confirmed dead in the crash. Eight others were hospitalized, he said.It was unclear if some...


Sonoma Index-Tribune (CA) - November 14, 1997

fatal   
     Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune A 44-year-old woman was killed instantly when her pickup was hit by a trailer that broke loose from a semi-truck on Highway 12/121 Wednesday afternoon.A 44-year-old woman was killed instantly Wednesday afternoon when a trailer broke loose from a semi-truck and smashed into her pickup on Highway 12/121 between Sonoma and Napa.The crash occurred at 1 p.m., in the second of a series of tight highway curves just a mile east of the Napa-Sonoma county line,.


Valley Times (Pleasanton, CA) - December 12, 1999

BART TRAIN HITS TRAILER   
     PLEASANTON A BART train crashed into a truck trailer that had careened off eastbound Interstate 580 at Hopyard Road Saturday morning.No one was injured in the crash, but BART service was disrupted for about an hour, from shortly before 9 a.m. until almost 10, said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Rogers.The three-axle flatbed trailer broke loose from a truck, crossed freeway lanes and slammed against the BART fence in the center divider, he said.Part of the trailer came to...

NOTE.... THE TRAILER ABOVE IS THE TYPE OF TRAILER WE ARE ADDRESSING...