Speed in focus following deadly accident on Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs

A driver stopped Tuesday morning and planted a flower at the corner of Indian Canyon and Tramview Road, less than 24 hours after the collision Monday afternoon.

Dan Wooden lives a block from where it happened, and saw the immediate aftermath.

“I heard it before i saw it. I heard the accident, down the street, heard a loud boom, the electricity went out,” said Wooden.

Wooden, utility workers replacing a damaged power pole, and others who frequently drive Indian Canyon, especially southbound, say drivers are often traveling “too fast”.

“Speed is out of control. I don’t know why they post a sign. Nobody follows it,” said Wooden.

Lieutenant Bill Hutchinson at the Palm Springs Police Department says other possible contributing factors in the crash, which have not been ruled out, include a driver experiencing a medical emergency, or a driver under the influence of drugs.

“We don’t know if speed is the reason for this accident that occurred. A lot of accidents occur for reasons other than speed,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson says a driver in a southbound pickup truck, crashed into the back of a southbound Mercedes, which veered head on into a northbound Altima sedan. The pickup then broadsided an SUV on Tramview Road.

“These are always tragic, when a mother, a father, or another loved one is not coming home,” said Hutchinson.

Two palm springs women, in separate vehicles died, 51-year-old Adele Johnson, and 34-year-old Desseree Lopez.

Two others are hospitalized.

News Channel 3 used a speed gun to test the speed of driver’s traveling southbound on Tramview Road.

Several drivers we monitored were clocked in the high fifties, and some in the low sixties. .

The posted limit, about 40 feet south of Tramview Road, is 45 miles an hour.

From the 10 Freeway, south to Tramview Road, the posted limit is 55 miles an hour.

Hutchinson said drivers exceeding the posted speed limit is an issue not only on Indian Canyon south of the freeway, but also on several other desert roadways.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

It could be days or even weeks before the investigation is finished.