A minor injury vehicle crash directly in front of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District office at Lomond Street and Highway 9 in downtown Boulder Creek the afternoon of April 4th resulted in one driver walking away from his overturned pickup, and another driver taken away in hand cuffs under suspicion of allegedly driving under the influence.
Noah Gale, 51, was initiating a left hand turn against north-bound traffic on Hwy 9 from the turning lane on at Lomond Street when his 2004 Chevy Silverado pick-up was hit by a Honda Accord with such force that the truck was flipped completely up side down.
“As soon as I started turning left and saw he was going to hit me- I just started praying- Jesus save me,” Gale said about an hour after the crash. “And he looked worse off than me when he was taken away in an ambulance,” Gale said.
California Highway Patrol responded to the two-vehicle crash and determined Manuel Sanchez-Luis, 36, the driver of the Honda, was under the influence of alcohol, although investigation into the crash is on-going.
Apparently the Honda Accord got underneath the truck after impact and the momentum flipped the truck. “If you get hit in the right spot, a car or truck can be easily overturned,” said Sergeant Boles of Highway Patrol.
“The ladies in that office (pointing to the SLVWD office) came out and helped me out as best they could. My truck was full of my tools and a lot of other stuff, and they helped me gather up my stuff and helped me settle down,” Gale said after the crash, while loading up another car with tools that got scattered when his truck flipped over. Gale described his truck “as pretty well destroyed.”
The SLVWD District office is located on the corner of Lomond Street, and the front office staff of the District have a clear view of the intersection and the crosswalk across Highway 9.
“It’s simply a horrible intersection. I’ve had to literally jump backwards so my toes didn’t get run over by a car that plowed right through,” said Andi O’Neal, Customer Service Representative for the SLVWD.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen major accidents happen here,” O’Neal said.
Over the years O’Neal said she has reached out to as many local officials she could think of, including 5th District Supervisor Bruce McPherson’s office, the CHP and Caltrans requesting a flashing yellow crosswalk light at the intersection.
Holly Hossack, District Secretary for the SLVWD, said “more than a few times” she or other SLVWD staff have had to go out and hand-hold young children to cross the street because traffic simply will not stop for them, and there’s often a visual block from the sidewalk by large trucks or RV’s blocking the line of site to oncoming traffic.
Justin Acton, president of the Boulder Creek Business Association (BCBA), said this most recent accident has reinforced the BCBA’s effort to implement traffic calming measures in downtown Boulder Creek, including “bulb-outs” that provide pedestrian safety zones and “pinch” the width of the street, pedestrian activated flashing lights at the crosswalks and a feedback radar device flashing the actual speed a car is moving along with the legal speed limit.
“The BCBA has advocated for these improvements for years,” Acton said, “not only to slow traffic down but also for drivers to realize this is a downtown with many pedestrians. We’ve been working with the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) and Supervisor McPherson’s office to make downtown Boulder Creek a safer place to walk, shop, and live,” Acton said.
The BCBA raised $2,800 at their annual dinner and auction on March 3 at Scopazzi’s which shows serious local commitment for the traffic calming measures, and which Acton hopes will be leveraged for grants from the RTC or CalTrans.
“We are hoping and planning for an integrated project with several complimentary features- that will fundamentally slow traffic down on what is essentially a heavily trafficked state highway, but is also our downtown,” Action said.
On Monday, Highway Patrol placed a speed radar device in front of the intersection as result of a request made by O’Neal the day of the crash.
