GILROY
– The first hard rain of the season morphed Gilroy’s streets and
highways into a demolition derby of sorts this morning – causing
four injury accidents within an hour.
”
During the first rain of the season all vehicle fluids come to
the surface, and it’s like ice on the road,
”
said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Dave Hill.
”
Drivers need to slow down and expect the unexpected.
”
GILROY – The first hard rain of the season morphed Gilroy’s streets and highways into a demolition derby of sorts this morning – causing four injury accidents within an hour.
“During the first rain of the season all vehicle fluids come to the surface, and it’s like ice on the road,” said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Dave Hill. “Drivers need to slow down and expect the unexpected.”
The most severe of the accidents occurred at 9:51 a.m. on the onramp from eastbound Leavesley Road to southbound U.S. 101, when 18-year-old Courtney Mills lost control of her large Chevrolet truck and slid sideways into a tree on the ramp’s shoulder.
A passenger in the truck, 32-year-old Keith Borchers of San Martin, suffered a severe shoulder injury in the accident and was flown by Lifeflight to Stanford Medical Center. Mills was unhurt.
“It appears she was driving too fast for the wet roads, and when she hit the tree the passenger took the brunt of the collision,” said Terry Mayes, spokeswoman for the CHP. “This happens every first rain of the year – the oil and residue built up on the ground for a year get washed away by the water.”
Farther south on U.S. 101 another rain-related accident occurred at 9 a.m. in the northbound section of the freeway near the Monterey Road onramp.
The accident began when Donald Lucero, a 22-year-old from Salinas, lost control of his BMW and spun out of control as he entered northbound U.S. 101 from Monterey Road. At that time, Lucero’s car was struck head on by Rick Nadalini, who was driving his Honda sedan on northbound U.S. 101.
Following the collision, Lucero’s car burst into flames. He was able to escape the vehicle, and both he and Nadalini were flown by CALSTAR with minor injuries to a San Jose trauma center. Nadalini’s 3-year-old son Tyler, who was in a backseat car seat, escaped injury.
“They were basically minor injuries in this one, fortunately,” Mayes said.
As a result of the traffic congestion from the accident on U.S. 101 and Monterey, three more cars were involved in a collision. The accident started when a car in the slow-moving traffic near the Castro Valley exit on northbound U.S. 101 rear-ended another. There was only one minor injury in the wreck.
“This was basically due to the congestion from the accident further up the road,” Mayes said.
Not confining themselves to the freeway, the slick roads also affected city streets, causing a minor injury accident at 8:51 a.m. on 10th Street and Uvas Parkway. One person with a minor injury in the accident was taken by ambulance to Saint Louise Regional Hospital.
During a more severe downpour in the early hours of this morning, two separate accidents also took place in South County.
One happened at 7:14 a.m. when the driver of a car traveling westbound on Highway 152 near Dinosaur Point at the top of Pacheco Pass lost control of her car, drove through the center divider and rolled back onto the westbound Highway 152 shoulder. Both passengers in the car complained of neck pain and were taken by ambulance to Saint Loiuse Regional Hospital. Traffic was slowed in the area for one hour, according to the CHP.
The first accident of the day happened at 1:25 a.m. at the U.S. 101 and 10th Street offramp. Ken White, 54, of San Jose was taken by ground to Saint Louise Regional Hospital with minor hip and back injuries.
He had been driving southbound on U.S. 101 and took the 10th Street offramp at a high rate of speed. He lost 3control of his 1996 Nissan Quest, struck a tree, and spun in a counter-clockwise direction before coming to a stop.
Mayes warns that drivers should be more cautious during rainstorms because the wet roads create more traffic hazards.
“The first rain is always the busiest for the CHP,” she said. “It takes longer to stop and start and turns should be taken at slower speeds than normal.”
Chief Photographer James Mohs and Staff Writer Martin Cheek contributed to this story.
