Death Stirs Highway Safety Outcry : Controls Sought for 2 Rancho Santa Fe Road Intersections

Two months ago, 26-year-old Debra Havins was killed when her car was struck broadside by a dump truck as she attempted to turn left from Melrose Avenue in Carlsbad onto Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Havins’ 5-year-old daughter, Cassie, suffered head injuries and is still at Children’s Hospital, and her other daughter, 2-year-old Michele, received minor injuries.

The Dec. 17 accident drew the ire of people in surrounding businesses, who have long complained of the hazards poised by the lack of traffic signals or stop signs where Rancho Santa Fe Road meets Melrose and, one-eighth of a mile southeast, it intersects with La Costa Meadows Drive in San Marcos.

Four accidents, including the one in which Havins died, occurred in the last four months of 1986 at Melrose and Rancho Santa Fe Road.

The long and winding Rancho Santa Fe Road descends slightly as it approaches the intersections, sometimes causing drivers to accelerate beyond the 45-m.p.h speed limit.

Employees from several businesses in the area have gathered signatures in an attempt to persuade San Diego County and the cities of Carlsbad and San Marcos to install stop signs or signals on Rancho Santa Fe Road at the two intersections. There already are stop signs for vehicles entering Rancho Santa Fe Road from Melrose and La Costa Meadows Drive.

The Carlsbad Traffic Safety Commission heard complaints from employees and nearby residents, then rejected requests for a three-way stop sign at Melrose and Rancho Santa Fe Road. However, the commission agreed to hire a consultant to study the merits of installing a signal at the intersection. City engineers have recommended a signal, but say it will take about a year before one is in.

“Well, it pleases me that they’re going to do something, but it doesn’t please me that they’re going to take as long as it’s going to take,” said Thomas L. Anthony, owner of Anthony Bros. Manufacturing, which owns property on the east side of Rancho Santa Fe Road. “I think we need something faster to have something done than nine months to one year.”

Paul J. Smith, plant manager for a nearby computer manufacturing firm, added: “We’ve all experienced near-misses. It’s a daily topic of conversation. I think the signal would be most ideal. But I wonder if there was some interim solution like a stop sign or a lower speed limit.”

City officials from Carlsbad and San Marcos have agreed to work together to consider installing signals along the stretch of Rancho Santa Fe Road.

There are complicating circumstances, however: The two cities have annexed land in the immediate area in question and officials from the cities, as well as the county, have admitted that they are uncertain who holds jurisdiction along which parts of Rancho Santa Fe Road.

“There was a strip of road that was left open that doesn’t belong to San Marcos or Carlsbad,” Anthony Nisich, director of developmental services for San Marcos, said. “It’s kind of a joint problem.”

Though officials from both cities acknowledge that the two intersections are not as dangerous as other intersections in their cities, they added that more emphasis is being placed on Rancho Santa Fe Road because of increasing development, which has produced an increased traffic volume. Joint studies conducted by both cities concluded that about 18,000 cars travel the road daily.