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.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: