On the Skids in Carbon Canyon: A Spate of Recent Serious Crashes on Carbon Canyon Road

Within the last few weeks, there have been several major car crashes on Carbon Canyon Road that have caused full shutdowns of the state highway.  As usual, most of these happen late at night when the road is wide open and some drivers race through the canyon or are otherwise distracted.

One of the oldest of these incidents took place eastbound on the switchbacks just east of Azurite Drive when a car went up the embankment and took out an electrical box (this has happened a few times in recent years.)

Another was when a 20-year old Chino Hills woman heading west through Sleepy Hollow veered over the oncoming lane, hit an embankment and rolled.  She was not evidently wearing a seat belt, as she was ejected and the car landed on her foot.

More recently was a hit-and-run accident very close to that location, but a little further east when a long-time Sleepy Hollow resident was killed in a hit-and-run incident.  A roadside shrine has been set up in the large turnout on the north side of the highway at the east end of the community and there has been no news of any developments concerning the fleeing driver.

Finally, at around 2 a.m. Thursday morning, the power went out in the area when a vehicle crashed into a power pole at a very common site for accidents at the middle of the S-curve eastbound between Carriage Hills Lane and Azurite Drive.  In fact, that pole was just replaced a few weeks or so ago, but smaller bollards were put in front of it and it was obvious to those who know that it wouldn't take long for those insufficient barriers to give way to another driver not making the curve to the left there and taking out the pole.

The accompanying photo was taken yesterday afternoon after crews completed repairs on that pole, but there have been so many incidents, too many to count, involving this section over the years that it won't likely be long before another crash happens there.

These incidents are all on the Chino Hills side, but anyone looking closely can see several places where guardrails and chain link fencing on the Brea side have been crushed by drivers veering off the road, most of these, but not all, taking place east of Olinda Village where the road has more of its twists and turns.  There are a couple of spots, though, on the downhill to the west of the Village where cars have left the roadway and hit rails and other objects.

It has been said that, as traffic has been generally lighter on our roadways during this pandemic, that there has been a significant uptick in speeding.  Whether these latest incidents are of that type or not, can't be known, but there has definitely been a noticeable increase in dangerous driving on Carbon Canyon Road in recent weeks.

There was a sheriff's department vehicle on the westbound side of the road near the entrance to Sleepy Hollow yesterday afternoon, but that's not when the vast majority of speeding and crashes occur and it's not known why the vehicle was parked there.

This blog used to be more active in documenting incidents like this in the hope that more of a police presence and enforcement might take place, but in lieu of that, it has seemed generally pointless.  The recent rash of activity, however, is concerning.