UPDATED 12:56 with comments from CalTrans
UPDATED 4-16- 6:45 a.m. with photos
The driveway into the AM/PM and Sonic parking lots, just east of Balsa Avenue in Yucca Valley, has been the scene of two fatal motorcycle crashes in just three months this year. Wednesday, Caltrans notified the county that it intends to install delineators in front of the driveway Friday, April 13, to prevent westbound vehicles from turning into the driveway across the double yellow lines. The delineators are a temporary measure and will be in place for two to three years while Caltrans monitors the maintenance frequency and their workers’ exposure to traffic while maintaining them. Terri Kasinga, a spokeswoman for Caltrans, said Caltrans will seek a more permanent resolution by placing a permanent raised curb median as a separate project–or as part of current project–in the vicinity of this intersection. She added that this driveway has a right-in and right-out access only and there is no plan to make any changes at this time. Kasinga added, “Based on the existing striping configuration it is illegal to make a left-in or left-out to this driveway from State Route 62.”
On January 1, a driver made an illegal U-turn onto westbound Highway 62 after leaving the AM/PM store, and Benjamin Lawrenson, 21, who was driving eastbound in the number 1 lane, T-boned the car on his motorcycle. Lawrenson died at Hi-Desert Medical Center. Then March 24, Chad Smithling, 50, was riding his motorcycle eastbound on Highway 62 when a westbound driver crossed the double yellow lines, and Smithling broadsided the car and died at the scene.
https://www.gofundme.com/bensride2018
