Drivers’ High Speed Blamed in I-5 Pileup

An investigation into the Thanksgiving weekend crash on Interstate 5 that left 17 people dead in a blinding dust storm blamed drivers’ high speed, and found that authorities acted properly by not shutting the freeway despite the gathering wind.

The task force convened by Gov. Pete Wilson after the Nov. 29 disaster near Coalinga reported Friday that the California Highway Patrol did all it could to notify motorists of the hazardous winds and dust and had no way of knowing how bad the storm would get.

“Rapidly changing wind and the resulting dust conditions, and the failure of some motorists to appropriately respond to these changing conditions by slowing their vehicles, could not have been anticipated,” the 99-page report said.

The task force recommended that agencies develop written guidelines “for evaluating whether a particular roadway should be closed and establishing local closure plans.” Such decisions are now left to the judgment of officers on duty.

Native bushes also should be planted as a barrier to dust blown from adjacent farm fields. The report called for improved communications, noting that the Fresno sheriff dispatcher and CHP use different systems.

Highway patrol investigators concluded that 91 of the 164 drivers involved in the crashes were traveling at unsafe speeds. It also found that 14 people were driving without licenses, one made an unsafe turn and another was driving under the influence of illegal drugs. The intoxicated driver died.

The CHP is considering asking the Fresno County district attorney to press vehicular manslaughter charges against four motorists, said CHP Sgt. Bob Joyner, who is in charge of the investigation for the CHP.

“There is that possibility of manslaughter charges,” Joyner said.

Alan Pollock, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, called the carnage “the worst highway accident we know of” in the nation’s history.

Before noon on the day of the crash, the CHP sounded wind and dust storm warnings designed to be aired for radio and TV traffic reports, and reported that visibility was at zero in western Fresno County, where the crashes occurred.

CHP and Caltrans posted roadside message warnings along I-5 that read, “Dust Storm Ahead.”

The first crashes occurred at 1 p.m. The final crash was at 2:40. The fatalities all happened between 2:24 and 2:27 p.m. The CHP documented 33 separate collisions in the area involving 164 vehicles and 349 people. Trucks were involved in 14 of the 17 deaths.

The worst single crash occurred when a truck driver plowed into a car that stopped because of the blinding dust. A man driving a car crashed into the truck and a fire consumed 15 cars and trucks.

It became worse when a truck driver drove into the dust, struck the existing wreck and overran a van, killing four people inside.

Joyner cited “driver responsibility” as the main cause of the high death toll. “You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know they were going too fast,” he said.

One motorist was going 80 m.p.h. despite the swirling dust.