Fatal roadway crashes are scaring residents
At least four have been killed in past three months on two-lane highway
Fatal car accidents are happening too often on the Ramona Expressway — and some residents want that to change.
In the past three months, there have been at least four fatal accidents on the two-lane roadway in Nuevo, an unincorporated area near Perris.
Chuck and Pam Santone, who have lived in Nuevo for 17 years, said that though reckless driving is not new in their community, the recent accidents on the Ramona Expressway are getting worse.
They say there’s a lack of traffic enforcement, and Pam Santone, 63, said their area gets “zero response.” Their biggest concern is that they’re losing people in their community.
“People are afraid to go on the Ramona Expressway,” said Chuck Santone, 61.
Chuck Santone frequents the Ramona Expressway, which stretches from San Jacinto to Perris, and said he sees drivers pass on the right shoulder and said reckless drivers cause “horrific” accidents.
The most recent death occurred April 4 at 6:30 a.m. on the Ramona Expressway, according to a Riverside County coroner’s report.
San Jacinto resident Victor Basturto-Sandoval, 25, was driving west, east of First Street, lost control of his vehicle and veered into the eastbound lanes, hitting another vehicle, California Highway Patrol Officer Javier Navarro said.
Basturto-Sandoval died at the scene. The other driver, a woman in her 50s, was taken to a hospital, Navarro said.
On March 17, Joshua VasquezEscamilla, a 21-year-old San Jacinto resident, died on the expressway after a head-on collision near Hansen Avenue and Davis Road about 5:40 a.m.
The collision occurred when Vasquez-Escamilla’s vehicle, which was traveling west, veered into the eastbound lane, hitting another vehicle, Navarro said.
On the same day, 67-year-old Steven Hutchinson was injured in a four-vehicle collision on the Ramona Expressway, west of Warren Road, about 6:20 a.m. and later died, a coroner’s report states. Francisco Salgado, 88, died hours after the same collision at Riverside Univer
sity Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley. The drivers of the other two vehicles were not injured.
Causes of the Ramona Expressway accidents vary but in general include aggressive, sleepy or impaired drivers, Navarro said.
“There are circumstances, people running late to work, so they’re in a hurry,” Navarro said.
Because the expressway is a two-lane road, there is no lane in which drivers can pass slower traffic if they’re in a hurry or too impatient, Navarro said. So they try to pass slower cars by going into the lane of oncoming traffic before moving back into their lane, and that’s when accidents occur, Navarro said.
In a Feb. 12 tweet, CHP officers said they gave 23 citations to drivers on the Ramona Expressway in a span of three hours. Their speeds ranged from 72 to 92 mph.
The speed limit ranges from 55 to 65 mph, depending on the stretch of the expressway.
In a Feb. 22 tweet , the CHP reported that citations — many due to speeds ranging from 70 to 90 mph — were given on the Ramona Expressway. Officers even saw one driver passing on the shoulder. The social media post did not specify how many citations were written.
The CHP and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department are planning to add physical barriers such as K-rails and to increase the CHP’s presence in the area, but a date for such measures is not yet known, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt said during an April 6 news conference.
CHP officers also conducted a one-day enforcement operation in Nuevo and gave out 141 traffic citations March 24.
Chuck and Pam Santone aren’t sure these one-day traffic stops will end reckless driving.
“When we scream long and loud, they put up a big show,” Chuck Santone said, adding that residents are fighting for a regular presence in their community.