A new winter storm is pushing toward central California and threatening to make this first week of 2017 a wet one. Commuting across the state has been bumper to bumper out due to holiday travel.
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The busy week on California highways has been tragic. There have been four fatalities in Fresno and Kern County since Christmas. According to AAA, the year-end holiday travel period runs from Friday, December 23 to the first Monday of the year.
The worst accident on I-5 occurred Saturday when 40 cars collided where I-5 and Highway 99 meet at Wheeler Ridge near Bakersfield. Two people were killed, a 50-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman. At least five other people were injured in the chaotic pileup believed caused by fog.
On Thursday, four people were hurt when a Greyhound bus and a big rig collided on I-5 near Kettleman City. On Tuesday, an 83-year-old Hayward man was killed in a four-car pileup on I-5 and Shields Avenue.
Last Monday, a Gardnerville, Nevada woman, Robin McElheny, was killed when a wrong-way driver crossed the median on I-5 near Derrick in the Cantua Creek area and hit her SUV. Two children were hospitalized. Her husband John said I-5 is a dangerous highway.
"There are so many wrecks on that highway," he said. "There's so much population that's overgrown the interstate. There's always wrecks all the time. I think medians would be great."
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What John meant are barriers in the medians, which could have stopped a car crossing the highway. When I-5 was built, it was believed that the wide spaces between the north and southbound lanes were enough. But studies have shown barricades can reduce head-on crashes by 80 percent.
Cal Trans has complained they don't have the funding to build them. CHP officer Kenny Antonetti says most I-5 crashed are caused by drivers not paying attention.
"There's a multitude of reasons," he said. "They can happen from a median emergency that causes someone to drive across lanes to inattention, cell phones when driving - just drive."