The stretch of coast highway from La Costa Ave to Encinitas Blvd has become known as The Guantlet. These photos were taken late Friday afternoon. This is just one of many terrible accidents that occur frequently in the Leucadia coastal zone. The Encinitas city council should take immediate action to lower the coastal speed limit to 35 mph and then make it a priority to slow and control the flow of traffic in coastal Leucadia. This will require leadership, vision and community support.
There were 3 or 4 cars in this mess but this big white truck seemed to be the main culprit. Drivers like to speed through both lanes in coastal Leucadia but the right hand lane is far too dangerous for this.
This vehicle was pushed onto the sidewalk from the force of the collision. Thank goodness that woman with the kids and stroller was not hit. The front wheel that broke off from the white truck is visible in the lane. *Note the Amtrak train in the background barreling through the residential neighborhood at 80 mph sans pedestrian crossings or warning lights.
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I agree. If Encinitas wants to have mixed use which means RETAIL on coast Hwy then there needs to be a lower speed and traffic breaks! people drive TOO FAST!
ReplyDeleteFunny you say that its recently been called "The Gauntlet".
ReplyDeleteCheck out Bill Arballo first memories of "Slaughter Alley":
...."On Coast 101 probably my first memories I have of that were when the 101 used to be called "Slaughter Alley". In Leucadia there were big trees to separate the north and southbound traffic, but there were no guardrails. So there were a lot of fatalities until the highway commission decided to do something. At first they took out trees but people were still running into the trees and that's when they installed the guardrails and they've been there ever since, but there's considerably less trees that were there then, they just took them out.
Check out more history at our very own DEMA site:
http://www.encinitas101.com/oralhistory
That stretch of our local road has been known as “Slaughter Alley” well before World War II and essentially remains the same today. The road was designed for highway speeds not a local main street with dense development, parking cars, bikes and pedestrians.
The City really needs to implement measures to physically slow immediately to slow traffic.
Grandview intersection is deadly has the statistics to prove it and is a major liability for the City to ignore. It seems like every week I see an accident at that intersection. What the odds on a death at that intersection this summer. I give it 40% chance of a dead at Grandview intersection this summer. What odds do you put on another death along N. Coast 101 this summer?
Why can’t the City stop the Slaughter of its citizens?
Count in road rage as another MAJOR factor in auto/bike/pedestrian collisions. There's no place to move when a driver of a souped up car and a bicyclist get into a screaming match about being cut off, the car tries to ram the bicyclist and innocents cars nearby. How do you get these dummies off the road?
ReplyDeleteThe City could discourage road rage by making the physical characteristics of the road such to eliminate the potential road rage driver's thought that there is room to go fast.
ReplyDeleteCurrently it’s straight and wide open. Like a drag strip. That needs to change.
Stop signs are the least expensive improvement. There are many others that could be done in the near future.
Does anyone know how the accident happened? Was it a loss of control due to speed? Was it someone becoming very impatient and went for a dangerous crossing of 101?
ReplyDeleteSomebody drunk? Speed limits don't stop drunk driving.
I guess The Crack of Dawn better watch out!
ReplyDelete(an old Tom Waits, quip)
If they post the speed limit at 25 mph everyone will go that speed, right? Does everyone live in the same fantasy world as me? I hope so.
ReplyDeletea good idea would be to MAKE L101 unsafe if driving over 25mph. We should create visual obstructions and create an obstacle course.
ReplyDeleteWe need a stop sign and pedestrian crossing at Grandview.
ReplyDeleteJP-thanks for removing the 2 posts with the "F bomb".
ReplyDeleteOh what! Now JP is going to ban short term renters from the blog!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that bloggers are calling for the reduction in speed on 101 , yet this morning the sheriff department and along with the various fire departments went whipping through town with sirens blaring!!!
ReplyDeleteVery much exceeding the speed limit!!! Hell they even blocked traffic for there little parade. they do this every year for some cause or another, great big waste of money and gas if you ask me.
RSPB
I'm phasing out profanity, it's a crutch.
ReplyDeleteI think Pat Bauder is back. Come on J.P. I thought the word police had been eliminated. Sometimes profanity is exactly what is needed.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll leave profane comments as long as they are in context and they had better be funny or make a good point. The one I deleted was kind of stupid.
ReplyDeleteDo you people think that you own HWY 101, a public road? If you did you could make it a big cul-de-sac at La Costa, but you don't.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't we do the responsible thing;
Eliminate parking on the highway. This will give all drivers a better sight line to protect the likes of RSPB as he staggers down the road.
Close off side streets. Let people go to Leucadia Blvd and join the highway where there is a traffic light.
Put a center concrete barrier down the middle of the road to eliminate head on collisions.
This would make it a safer street and move people through the city faster eliminating all that carbon release from idling engines.
Another View, okay then you blast through Leucadia at 50 mph only to hit downtown Encinitas where you have to go slow (and getting another stop light at F st for Pacific Station), so what is the point?
ReplyDeleteFace it, coastal Leucadia is no longer a highway. Coastal Leucadia is too heavy of a residential area for high speed traffic. The commercial aspect of Leucadia is growing every summer, the boutiques and restaurants are thriving. It's time to slow down traffic like in Carlsbad, Del Mar and downtown Encinitas. Commuters can stay on I-5 and suffer.
I agree. Lower the speed limit. I often feel a bit freaked when I drive that stretch since, as it is, many drivers exceed the posted limit.
ReplyDeleteWay lower it.
Hope whomever makes the decision is paying attention.
I think that Del Mar has some ideas that we could learn. No one can go thru Del Mar at a rapid pace, as it has too many stops. From what I understand, this was a deliberate move to keep people from using 101 as a way around the freeway. I know there are proably disadvantages to tis, although I am not sure what they are. At least our City staff could take a look at this idea.
ReplyDeleteDel Mar has stop signs between Ninth and 15th Streets and traffic signals on Ninth and 15th. Two reasons for the stop signs. To slow traffic and also to all allow residents to get on to Camino del Mar from side streets.
ReplyDeleteDel Mar followed Solana Beach's lead by prohibitng right turns during peak hours. It still gets heavy through traffic going to and from UCSD and La Jolla. Del Mar has installed twinkle lights at a pedestrian cross walk on Camino del Mar that can be activated when pedestrians want to cross the street. Finally, Fel Mar has strict traffic enforcement and I would guess the enforcer more than earns his salary and benefits. While there is still a traffic problem it would be horrendous without these traffic calmers.
Del Mar is horrendous 24/7 because it is not the traffic causing the problem now. It is the infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to win when there are too many people in north county.
Does Jerome Stocks actually believe we should triple the population of Encinitas or does he lust for developer backing so much that he will say whatever?
We poor Leucadians. We just aren't up to the task of making a left hand turn like the rest of California drivers...
ReplyDeletePerhaps all of Leucadia needs to be right in and right out only unless riding the "short bus" provided for the special people we are!
Good lord, the darn city babysits us enough already, Get a grip!
Bad or drunken driving may be illegal but it will never be legislated out of existance any more than suicide on the rail road tracks will be.
California Courts of Appeal Reports - PEOPLE v. SELL, 96 Cal.App.2d 521 (1950)
ReplyDeleteThe defendant was charged with a violation of section 480 of the Vehicle Code, it being alleged that while driving an automobile on June 19, 1949, he collided with another automobile, thereby causing injuries to four people, and that he failed to stop, to render reasonable assistance, and to give the information required by section 482. After a preliminary hearing the court found there was probable cause and held him to answer.
I know how to make a left turn but it's tricky when the stoned jackass from Carlsbad in the big truck is going 80.
ReplyDeleteEncinitas has only been a city since 1986 but per the earlier post a news report from June 19, 1949 is about a bad crash on the 101?????? Maybe it's been happenning since before the blogmeister was born, and is still no different than any other stupid street with ssimilar traffic counts... Maybe we need to grow up.
ReplyDeleteY'all need to slow down and enjoy life. You are missing out on the pretty ladies walking down the 101.
ReplyDeletethe Street is the same as 1949 and the problem. Change the street, lower the speed and you will reduce the slaughter. Its that simple.
ReplyDeleteOne night in 1977 I watched a man jump across the tracks in front of a freight train from the Neighbor Saver's gas station. The last thing I saw was a flash of the man in mid-air illuminated by the train's headlight as he was only 5 feet from the front of the train. I didn't know if he made it across or not, nor did his friend who was still on this side of the tracks. He didn't make it.
ReplyDeleteNot more than 5 minutes later however, I heard a rumor already spreading. Someone said a pregnant woman was hit by the train and her and the baby were dead.
(I too would like know the identity of the woman who allegedly committed suicide" last week here. Anyone hear who it was?)
I was at the aftermath of the recent Gauntlet mishap at the north end of town and heard that a drunk woman exited the truck she used smashing the parked cars; ran into the Pacifica Condo complex, jumped the fence and mingled in pool as an innocent bystander. Don't know if that's true either because I got there 5 minutes after the "accident" but it made for colorful copy here. Luckily no one was walking on the sidewalk, biking there, or just in one of the other cars that was creamed.
Only a month ago a northbound driver on N. Coast Hwy 101 lost control of her car, grazed a guardrail, catapulted across the median (missing oncoming traffic) and crashed into a newer truck for sale at ACE CARS AND TRUCKS (totaling both vehicles and wrecking a fence.) Luckily again the folks who were just looking a the truck had gone.
Speeders are here every day, yet I NEVER see any of the South-bounders getting tickets or being pursued by the law. Carlsbad on the other hand strictly enforces their 30/35mph speed limit on 101, both directions. Ask anyone.
More stop signs are not the answer when vehicles can reach 80mph in a few seconds. The yellow light SPEED TEST machines placed here once every few years are a dog and pony show. What do speeders do when they clearly see them a block away? Slow down of course, helping the experts conclude there is no speeding problem here. Such machines should not tell people how fast they're going.
I had to laugh the other day while observing the traffic camera intersection of El Camino and Encinitas Blvd. People passing through that crossing on the yellow obviously KNOW what’s gonna happen if there is ANY chance of the light turning "orange" when they're in it. Without exception they ACCELLERATE within the intersection to get the hell away from the camera.
My neighbor used to have a statue of a traffic cop (pulling his gun) that he'd put in front of his antique shop. Talk about traffic calming. Sometimes drivers in a hurry to slow down they left skid marks.
We need an enforceable 30mph speed limit between La Costa Ave and Encinitas Blvd. We need ONE lane south and ONE lane north for traffic. We need to get Carlsbad commuters to Sorento Valley OFF of 101 and back on 5. The spare lanes can be for bikes, increased parking areas and emergency vehicles only. The entire east side of the HWY is in LIMBO and NCTD needs to tell us WHERE their right of way is. We need to know WHERE we may put a curb. At that point we can create 2 miles of parking for 2 miles of the Leucadia/Encinitas 101 corridor. We all need it. Even if the Planning Commission doesn't keep approving high intensity developers to invade Leucadia (so that THEY can live in a spacious, gardened, gated community somewhere else.) If we don't slow down the traffic we'll see an exponentially higher total of crimes, problems and deaths. Who needs that?
Hard to believe people still drive drunk with all the fines, schools and penalties that await them. But when I was in grammar school, a school film said that "One out of every 50 cars passing by you is a drunk driver." It must be less that than now I hope!
And that's my long winded beef for today.