Accident Involving Runaway Truck Prompts Call for Tougher Controls

For the second year in a row, a severe traffic accident has city officials and police discussing the problem of runaway trucks on Hawthorne and Crenshaw boulevards, the two main arteries to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Robert Ryan said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that the city is “asking for another tragedy” if it does not put stronger controls on trucks that use the two steep, curving thoroughfares. Ryan said the city should increase inspections of trucks by sheriff’s deputies.

The remarks were prompted by the crash last week of a runaway flatbed truck that injured three people, one seriously, on Hawthorne Boulevard.

City officials conceded, however, that such discussions don’t always lead to change and that local law enforcement officers lack the authority to order defective vehicles off the streets.

Meeting Urged

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council last year called for a meeting with officials of the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the city of Rolling Hills Estates after a runaway trash truck killed a San Pedro woman on Crenshaw Boulevard.

But the committee never met.

“Unfortunately, these things have a way of dying down between tragedies,” Ryan admitted.

Most officials in Rancho Palos Verdes and neighboring cities said there has been no progress on safety measures because they are not sure if runaways can be prevented. “I guess the problem is no one knows how to effectively deal with it,” Councilman Mel Hughes said. “There aren’t always cost-effective solutions to every problem.”

The most recent accident was July 26, when a flatbed truck carrying a heavy earth mover lost its brakes going north, downhill, on Hawthorne Boulevard in Rolling Hills Estates.

Police said the truck, driven by Gregory Jones, 25, of Hawthorne ran a red light at Rolling Hills Road and hurtled north to the intersection of Via Valmonte, where it slammed into a 1964 Dodge Dart.

Crushed Rolls

The truck then jumped the center divider into southbound lanes, flipped and slid upside down through the intersection of Newton Street in Torrance, where it crushed a 1975 Rolls-Royce.

Naomi Rea, 68, of Palos Verdes Estates, the driver of the Dodge, was the only person seriously injured. She was released Wednesday from Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center, where she was treated for a broken collarbone, broken ribs and internal injuries.

Torrance police Officer Larry Davis said the crash was apparently caused by a combination of brake failure and driver error. Davis said contaminants in the brake lines caused the brakes to partially fail. Jones’ statements, Davis added, indicated that he was aware of a problem with the brakes sometime before the accident.

The Torrance city prosecutor’s office is expected to decide within two weeks whether Vehicle Code violations will be filed against Jones or Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., the owner of the truck.

Jones could not be reached for comment, and a spokeswoman for Hertz, a subsidiary of car rental giant Hertz Corp., declined to comment.

Ryan said he advocated increased traffic enforcement even before last year’s fatal accident. “We need another traffic car, and I think that it would pay for itself in increased fines,” he said.

He said the council is due to receive a report next month from the city staff on the feasibility of paying for an additional sheriff’s patrol car.

Hughes said he is not sure that increased patrols would solve the problem. “No matter how many officers you have, there can be mechanical failures, and on a downhill run, it’s going to be a problem,” he said.

Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates all contract with the Sheriff’s Department for police services.

Enforcement by police and sheriff’s deputies is restricted because they must have probable cause to inspect trucks, said Lt. Dennis Frandsen, commander of the Torrance Police Department’s traffic division. “You can’t just stop every truck,” he said.

Palos Verdes Peninsula cities have supported state Assembly bills that would give the Sheriff’s Department authority to immediately order defective trucks off the road. Currently, only the CHP can do that.

But such bills died in the Assembly Transportation Committee in 1986 and 1987.

That means deputies can issue citations to trucks with mechanical problems but cannot order them off the road.

“It’s a sore point with us,” Rolling Hills Estates City Manager Ray Taylor said.

“We think we ought to have that authority because it gives us one more piece of ammunition to prevent truck accidents. And that is a high priority on the peninsula.”

Rolling Hills Estates officials took one safety step a year ago when they imposed a 6,000-pound weight limit on a short stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near Silver Spur Road.

That has forced big trucks to use Hawthorne Boulevard, which engineers say is slightly straighter and safer because it has two emergency turnout lanes north of Palos Verdes Drive North.

City officials said it would help to add one more emergency lane, filled with sand and gravel to stop out-of-control trucks, closer to the bottom of Hawthorne Boulevard. But a methane production facility and the steep terrain leave no space on the side of the road for a safety lane, Taylor said.