Rig Plows Into Traffic; 11 Hurt : Accident: 10 vehicles are damaged as a truck loses part of its brakes on a hill and plows into a busy intersection during rush hour.

At 7:49 a.m., Robert Kettleson sat quietly in his big rig, waiting for the red light to change, and thinking about how the day was getting off to a good start.

Seconds later, he felt a “slight jolt,” as if a car had bumped the rear of his trailer. But as he turned to peer in his rear-view mirror, he watched his buddy fly past him in an identical truck, which had lost its brakes and was out of control

“I watched (the cab) fall apart,” Kettleson, 31, of Corona said. “I thought for sure he would be dead.”

Eleven people were injured, none seriously, and 10 vehicles damaged or destroyed in one of the most spectacular accidents in El Toro in recent memory.

The accident occurred when the runaway big rig with the bad brakes, loaded with 24 tons of dirt, hit Kettleson’s truck and caused a chain reaction that quickly involved the other vehicles. The accident closed the intersection of Lake Forest Drive and Trabuco Road for most of the morning, the California Highway Patrol said.

Kettleson and the driver of the runaway truck, Kevin Johnson, work together at Uyekawa Bros. Trucking Co. in Anaheim.

The accident, which came during the height of the morning rush hour, left a tangled mess of trucks, cars, dirt and oil. It tied up traffic on Lake Forest Drive and Trabuco Road for hours, according to CHP Officer Raul Martinez.

“It blocked the entire intersection,” Martinez said, adding that traffic was rerouted to residential streets while police and county workers scooped up tons of dirt and hauled mangled automobiles and truck parts away.

Johnson’s truck was demolished. The two trucks were hauling dirt from a construction site at the Foothill Ranch Planned Community in the northern hills between El Toro and Portola Hills.

Kettleson and other witnesses said that Johnson was having trouble slowing his truck as he was coming downhill on Lake Forest Drive.

Witness Greg Kuczynski, who helped pull victims from the battered cars, vans and trucks, was sitting in his pickup waiting to pull out into traffic when he noticed Johnson heading for the stopped traffic at the intersection. “He was not slowing down at all,” Kuczynski recalled.

He said he watched the events unfold before his eyes in what seemed like surrealistic slow motion.

But in reality, it all happened very quickly.

“Five seconds, that’s all it took,” Kuczynski said as he stood at the intersection videotaping the clean-up of the accident.

“I really thought the cars were going to catch on fire,” he said. “Some looked like they were going to explode.”

“It really could have ended up a tragedy,” said Kuczynski, a Lake Forest resident who turned 43 on Friday. “I was almost afraid to look.”

Johnson, realizing that he would not be able to stop, steered toward the rear trailer of Kettleson’s truck in an effort to miss any of the cars lined up at the red light, authorities said.

The rig slammed into Kettleson’s rear trailer, and then ricocheted to the left, smashing into a van and another car, CHP Sgt. Mike Johnson said.

As it hopped the center divider, the truck struck a black Toyota. The cab then “disintegrated,” and ended up resting against a light pole, he said.

The frame of the cab, almost unrecognizable, was wrapped around the pole.

“All I saw was dirt and parts and cars flying everywhere,” Kuczynski said. “There was oil spraying in all directions.

Johnson was able to crawl away from the ruined truck. The engine, still smoking, was torn from the twisted frame and landed a few feet from Johnson, witnesses said.

Kuczynski said that when he found Johnson, who was lying on the center divider, moaning, “I tried to stop. I tried to stop.”

CHP inspectors later determined that only five of the truck’s 10 sets of brakes had been adjusted properly. Johnson was cited for not properly maintaining the truck, authorities said.

Local residents who flocked to the scene said they were not surprised that the accident happened.

Watching CHP and county workers labor to clear the intersection, John Villa, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident, said that he has witnessed a number of close calls driving home by way of Santa Margarita Parkway.

That major thoroughfare, once an almost-deserted roadway that led to the isolated community, is now hemmed in by residential development.

“I would say that truckers can be a lot more careful,” Villa said. “These trucks bang around and get going pretty fast.”

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. George Johnson said that at the urging of the Mission Viejo City Council, the department’s Laguna Niguel station started a pilot program that has already resulted in more than 300 citations to truckers.

“This program seems to be working extremely well,” Johnson said. He added that a similar project is being considered for other South County cities.

“There’s a lot of interest and concern about truck safety,” Johnson said. “I’m sure this accident will heighten that feeling.”

Johnson, the truck driver, and two others were rushed to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. Johnson, who suffered facial scratches and bruises, was released later in the day, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Gasho said.

Alice Topper and Janet Antonnuci, both of Laguna Hills, were admitted to the hospital and were in fair condition, Gasho said. Topper suffered a head injury and Antonnuci a concussion and pelvic fracture.

Eight others were taken to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center for minor injuries, and were expected to be treated and released Friday afternoon.

Kettleson said that he and Johnson had become friends in the two months since Johnson joined the trucking company. “We drive to work together,” he said.

Henry Uyekawa, owner of the trucking firm, was not cited.

“This is a real unfortunate thing,” Uyekawa said as he stood in the middle of a puddle of oily dirt. “I really feel bad about this.”

TEN-VEHICLE CRASH ON LAKE FOREST DRIVE 1) A semi-trailer truck hauling 24 tons of dirt from a nearby construction site heads downhill on Lake Forest Drive toward Trabuco Road.

2) As Truck A is driving down Lake Forest Dr., part of its brake system fails. It continues down the hill and hits Truck B.

3) Truck A glances of Truck B and hits the rear of a van in the inside lane. The van spins and hits the rear of the car in front of it, causing a four-car chain reaction.

4) Truck B is pushed and hits a car directly ahead which in turn strikes another vehicle.

5) Truck A continues across the median and hits another car traveling in the opposite direction.

6) Truck A comes to a rest after hitting a light pole. The cab of the truck disintegrates and leaves debris across the road.