In themselves, all of these little "accidents" are seemingly minor. After all, what's the big deal about a crushed old barbed wire fence or a pulverized sign? No one got hurt (that we know of) or died, and there was no significant private property loss. As for those street signs, that's a CalTrans problem, isn't it? Well, except for the fact that taxpayers foot the bill for those!
What should be of concern, however, is the fact that, while it is certainly possible that may be a driver's grip on the steering wheel slipped or there was some distraction (glare from sunlight during the day or headlights at night), more than likely these incidents were caused by speed, intoxication or both.
Moreover, what happens, should this be true, if these drivers hit another vehicle instead of an inanimate object? And, as has been said before, what would happen if an innocent person were badly injured or killed?
So, looking at these photographs, all taken this morning, of incidents that have all taken place within the last couple of weeks, nothing looks too amiss on the face of it.
But, in addition to what has been stated above, there is also a growing documentation, at least on this blog, of incidents, just over the last couple of years, that demonstrate that there are too many occurrences of drivers leaving the road too many times. There hasn't been a major accident since the summer that I know of and no one has been killed for awhile.
But, why should benign neglect and a reactive instead of a proactive policing philosophy continue to hold sway? When people know that there is no real police presence, except at those same pre-determined patrol times that happen to occur when most of the accidents don't happen to take place, some of them drive with impunity.
Meaning: they speed, they pass on a road that prohibits all passing through its entire length within the canyon, they drive intoxicated. And, there's no one to really stop them, unless they happen to be on the road under those conditions at the pre-determined patrol times. As has been said here before, there will probably be nothing done, no sense of urgency, until something terrible has already happened.
A little investment, though, could go a long way as an inhibitor and preventative, but, so far, there has been just above no interest in being proactive. So, we wait to react to tragedy and it will come, someday. Meantime, the tallying of the signs and fences and skid marks goes on.
The photographs are: 1) North side of the road just west of Chino Hills Parkway; 2-3) The south side of the road at the upper end of the hairpin curve area; and 4-5) The south side of the road at the lower section of hairpin curve area.
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