Traffic deaths on Sonoma County’s Occidental Road pose mounting worry for residents, officials

Two recent fatal crashes on Occidental Road west of Santa Rosa have spotlighted the peril that neighbors say the two-lane road poses for drivers, with rushing traffic unimpeded by stop signs or traffic lights, making for a deadly, rural speedway.

Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins called Occidental Road one of the most dangerous in west county, citing the speed of drivers who treat the east-west thoroughfare as a highway.

On Monday, an 18-year-old Santa Rosa woman was killed after her vehicle struck a parked tree-trimming truck - another tragic example of the risk posed by the busy roadway, Hopkins said.

In December, a San Francisco firefighter heading to work on Occidental Road from his home in Monte Rio was killed in a head-on collision that seriously injured the other driver, prompting Hopkins, who represents the area, to ask for a county review of safety measures and other ways to slow traffic.

On Tuesday, she called for “a hard look at where have we seen fatalities, where we have seen accidents.”

“It reminds me a lot of Lakeville, in the south county, a similar situation as an alternative to 101. People go very, very fast, only two lanes,” Hopkins said. “It's just a concern. The fatalities are really sad.”

Further east, inside the city limits, Santa Rosa officials have been pressed to take a closer look at their stretch of Occidental Road and its intersection with Stony Point Road - one of the busiest in the city. Over little more than six weeks late last year, three pedestrians were killed in the area after being struck by vehicles, the latest in a string of serious traffic collisions in the area stretching back to 2014.

About a mile and a half to the west, outside the city, the Dec. 12, pre-dawn crash that killed firefighter Steven Pacatte, 34, occurred in heavy fog as Pacatte was approaching Piezzi Road on eastbound Occidental Road. He sped up his pickup to pass a garbage truck and ran into an oncoming SUV. The other driver suffered major injuries.

Monday afternoon, Mallory Parker lost control of her car on a wide stretch of Occidental Road west of Highway 116 . Her sedan hit a parked tree trimming truck which was then pushed into a nearby worker, who was injured.

The two deaths are the latest in years of fatal or injury crashes along the rural thoroughfare. A review of crashes near the Occidental and Piezzi roads intersection - one of the main areas of concern for residents - showed 15 serious collisions since 2010, according to a list compiled from Redcom emergency call dispatch reports.

Plastic flowers still remain at the intersection from one crash on the list - a 2015 fatality involving a driver who turned into the path of a motorcycle ridden by 20-year-old Ihab Usama Halaweh, who was killed in the collision.

Pacatte's death was a tragedy too many for nearby residents Deb Young and her family, who've worried and fought for improved traffic safety in the area since they moved into the residential Country Club neighborhood, just blocks from Occidental Road, more than 20 years ago. Like several of their neighbors, they no longer drive Occidental Road.

“It was too much,” Young said. “At this point our family has kind of made a pact. We just don't go that way at all.”

Paralleling Highway 12, Occidental Road offers 4.5 miles of nearly arrow- straight roadway with no traffic light or stop sign between Fulton Road on the east end and Highway 116 on the west, with speed limits of 45 and 50 mph. It's seen by many as a quicker alternative to the highway, which typically bogs down near Sebastopol.

Speeding is common, as are tailgating drivers who cross double yellow lines to pass slower vehicles, say residents. And the sheer amount of steady traffic makes it a sometimes dangerous maneuver for drivers on side roads trying to pull onto the route safely.

The worst stretch, neighbors and other motorists say, is from Piezzi Road to Sanford Road, with a particularly narrow, tunnel-like feel in spots, bordered by sturdy oak trees and telephone poles that eliminate opportunities to swerve away from trouble.

Veteran CHP Sgt. Al Capurro said officers frequently work Occidental Road, watching for speeders and other violators. He said the route is like several others in the county known for serious collisions - two-lane, undivided routes busy with traffic and rushing motorists.

The sergeant pointed out Guerneville Road as a nearby, wider east-west route that also had no stop light for miles until recent years when one was added at Willowside Road. “That's had a positive effect on speed out there,” Capurro said.

Occidental Road starts in the city of Santa Rosa but after crossing Fulton Road it becomes a rural stretch of county that separates the west Santa Rosa subdivisions from the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Highway 116. In the county, the area is made up of large parcels, vineyards, ranches and a few residential neighborhoods, including homes surrounding the Santa Rosa Country Club and nearby Willowside Middle School on Hall Road. Most residents have either Occidental Road or Hall Road as their way to or from home.

The Youngs aren't alone is avoiding Occidental Road. The Bazzano and Belli families are willing to take longer routes to skip the risk, especially as their children learned to drive.

“We actually told the kids they weren't allowed to go that direction,” said Jim Belli, regarding a right turn onto Occidental from Piezzi Road. “We wouldn't allow them to pull out at that intersection at Piezzi because the cars are going so fast there. It's pretty narrow and the cars just barrel through that area. It's scary.”

Longtime area residents, including Johnny Bazzano and Jim Belli have complained about speeding drivers in the area for decades, contacting county supervisors and setting up neighborhood meetings in their homes, with mixed success. After Halaweh's death in 2015, residents made a push for a stoplight at Piezzi Road.

A traffic study was done, but residents were told by county officials the study showed there weren't enough vehicles on the road to warrant a light, said Bazzano, who helped lead the effort. Instead, the county installed an overhead light to illuminate the intersection at night.

“That hasn't helped,” Bazzano said. “It doesn't stop people from passing on the left over that double yellow all the time.”

After the collision that killed Pacatte, Bazzano wrote to Hopkins, asking for help and listing the 15 area collisions. Since the 2015 death there have been four crashes at or near the intersection in 2017, three of them involving injuries, and the Dec. 12 fatality.

“I would like to see a light,” he said. “That would slow everybody down. It's a freeway.”