Caltrans reviewing recent accidents along Highway 1

A head-on collision sent two vehicles over a 200-foot cliff near Big Creek Bridge late Monday morning.

The passengers all made it out OK, but the driver in another crash along Highway 1 Saturday did not.

Drivers along California’s most scenic roadway encounter many curves and hills, some of which are close to the edge of cliffs.

“Yeah, funny enough, we did say there was a couple of corners that were completely open, we were glad we were going the other way,” said Helen, who is visiting from London.

Caltrans says they have a policy where they place guardrails in areas where there are steep embankments or close cliff edges.

“Certainly if there’s an accident concentration in an area, we’ll take a look at it. We’ll add guardrail, we’ll upgrade the guardrail,” said Colin Jones, a Caltrans spokesperson.

The department says they depend on three factors when looking at highway safety: the design of the roadways, law enforcement enforcing the rules and drivers following the rules of safety.

The top speed limit is 55 miles an hour.

“We obviously recommend people travel at night or inclement weather. We always advise people to keep their speeds down,” said Jones.

Caltrans says it is not expensive to build guardrails, but they feel the highway is still safe enough for drivers if they follow the road laws.

Jones says 80 to 85 percent of the accidents come from driver error.

“The thing is as well here, you’re taking in the view, aren’t you? So I think it’s probably slower than it would have been anyway,” said Lee, who is also visiting from London.

Caltrans says they will take a look at the locations of the last two accidents this past week to see if there needs to be more safety upgrades put in.