KESQ’s I-Team investigates deadly stretch of I-10

Truckers and passenger cars share the highly traveled Interstate 10, stretching from Los Angeles to Florida. But, there’s one section of I-10 just east of the Coachella Valley that has proven to be accident prone. According to the California Highway Patrol, the number of crashes has nearly doubled since 2015.

In a News Channel 3, I-Team Investigation, Reporter Karen Devine explores “Desert Center Dangers.” Who or what is to blame for the increase in crashes? She spoke with The California Highway Patrol and Caltrans officials to see what they believe could be causing the spike in accidents.

Greg Snider drives from La Quinta to Blythe several times a week. He says the roughest part of his drive is the nearly 100 miles through Desert Center.

“You have so many big rigs, the big rigs are all going 60, the passenger cars are all going 80 so you have this like two different speeds happening at the same time and when anyone tries to pass, I mean it definitely becomes a dangerous situation.”

From 2012 to 2015, each year averaged 120-135 crashes. In 2016, the number of crashes shot up to 225, nearly double from the year before. There have been 20 fatalities in the past 4 years, an average of 5 per year.

CHP patrols the area, working to keep speeding and sleepy drivers in check, but other factors come into play.

According to CHP officer Mike Radford, “It’s dangerous out here, you’re not driving by a bunch of exits, you’re not driving by a bunch of lights and buildings, it’s just really a lot of desert and at night, dark desert which is basically just black out here.”

Just 45 miles east of the Coachella Valley, up near Chirico Summit we discovered a thirty-mile repaving project. The two-lane highway is down to one lane in that area and truckers and passenger cars going at least 70 miles per hour have to slow down substantially and use the right shoulder as a lane. One theory is that this construction zone has created an unsafe roadway causing more crashes.

Caltrans Spokesperson, Terri Kasinga says accidents do happen in construction zones, but she says, in this case, it’s not true.

“From the information, we’re getting it is not a direct result of the construction activity. Most of those accidents happened, in fact, almost all of those accidents happened outside of an active construction zone.”

Kasinga says there is ample signage and alerts before drivers get to the construction zone. Where the pavement is being dug up, there are some missing elements like rumble strips and easy to see striping.

CalTrans Spokesperson Terri Kasinga tells us there is ample signage and alerts before drivers hit the 30 mile repaving project located right in the middle of the Desert Center stretch. But, they are digging up the road and there are some missing elements like rumble strips and easy to see striping.

“We’ve done everything that we can to try to alert the public that they’re coming into a construction zone and from talking to the CHP, it sounds like a lot of these accidents are driver error,” says Kasinga.

CHP Officer Radford agrees, “Most of these crashes out here are attributed to several different vehicle code violations, one is unsafe speed is the most common crash and we have unsafe turning movements, driving under the influence and distractions of some sort, cell phone.”

Commuter Greg Snider says he makes it a point not to look at his cell phone even if he gets text messages. “I will literally not look at it at that stretch just because I have seen so many accidents.”

Both Caltrans and the CHP say distracted driving is the biggest contributing factor to the increase in crashes. If you are driving westbound as the sun goes down, it’s on your face. And, just after dark, the view of the Coachella Valley may take your eyes off the road. According to Officer Radford, along with illegal cell phone use, there’s another factor that gets drivers into trouble on the road.

“Out here boredom is an issue, there’s not much going on, it’s a pretty straight stretch and I could see it being pretty easy to drift off and maybe start falling asleep as you’re driving.”

He says, “If you’re tired, sometimes you just need to pull over and take a break or get some coffee and do what you need to do, but don’t push it.”

Caltrans hires extra patrol when they are working on a road project like the one up in Desert Center. The CHP says they have the area covered. Both say, be ready and prepared if you have to drive through that area. Distracted driving could get you killed.