2 Hurt in Head-On Crash : Accident: Both drivers suffer massive injuries in latest of many collisions on notorious Laguna Canyon Road.

Two drivers suffered massive injuries Monday when one apparently swerved over the double yellow line on Laguna Canyon Road in the latest in a series of crashes that have plagued the treacherous thoroughfare.

The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. about two miles north of El Toro Road. Glenn S. Magness, 32, driving south, crossed the double yellow line and crashed head-on into a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Robert N. Christen, 53, according to Officer Ken Daily, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

“It’s a complete mystery why he swerved into the opposing lanes,” Daily said, adding that officers did not believe the crash was alcohol-related. “It happened so suddenly.”

A third driver, who was behind Christen, veered off the road to avoid the collision and crashed into a barbed wire fence. She was not injured.

CHP officers closed the road for two hours as paramedics and firefighters worked to free both men from their crumpled vehicles.

Magness, of Mira Loma, who suffered massive head and facial cuts, internal injuries and a broken left leg, underwent emergency surgery late Monday and was listed in critical condition. He was in danger of losing his left eye, said Dr. Kenneth Kushner, a trauma surgeon at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Christen, of Lake Forest, went to the same hospital with major facial injuries, rib fractures and injuries to both knees. Christen, a land planner with the city of Lake Elsinore, was also treated for a deep cut after his seat belt ripped into his chest. He was in serious condition Monday night.

Laguna Canyon Road, also known as California 133, is one of the most traveled rural highways in the county, with 22,000 drivers daily--and one of the most dangerous. In the last 15 years, at least 40 people have died on the eight-mile stretch from the San Diego Freeway to Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.

Only a few years ago, someone anonymously placed white wooden crosses along the roadway at the sites of traffic deaths. Some Laguna Beach residents protested the display, saying it was “macabre.”

The winding, scenic highway is among a handful of county roads on which drivers are urged to use daytime headlights to reduce the risk of accidents. But that has done little to stop the carnage.

Sgt. Greg Bartz, supervisor of the traffic division of the Laguna Beach Police Department, which patrols a 2.5-mile section of the road, said that most of the accidents are caused by driver error.

“Some speed, and some are under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” Bartz said. “The cold, hard facts are that one driver drifts to the opposing side of the road.”

Many of the crashes occur at a curve in the 1800 block dubbed Big Bend. Bill Page, who owns the Larry Hunt Auto Center, a towing service and auto body shop that seems to be appropriately located near Big Bend, said that his tow truck operators respond to at least one accident each day on the three-lane highway.

Page agreed that most accidents are speed-related. The posted speed at Big Bend, for example, is 35 m.p.h., but traffic zooms by at a steady 55 m.p.h., with some drivers hitting the curve at 70 m.p.h., Page said. Some inevitably lose control and smash into a telephone pole or oncoming traffic.

“This is a hot-rod haven for some drivers,” Page said. “They go to the beach to have a day in the sun, then they get in a hurry to get out of here. People try to pass when they shouldn’t. Sometimes, we have to (respond) to three- and four-car accidents all because one driver was not observing the speed limit.”

Dr. Thomas Shaver, head of the trauma unit at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, said that emergency room doctors are sometimes overburdened with the number of trauma cases from Laguna Canyon Road.

“If people just stay within the speed limit, everything will be OK,” Shaver said. “Anything faster than the speed limit is not safe.”

Several widening plans for the road have been drafted and scrapped over the years, but officials are trying to come up with a new plan.

Laguna Beach Councilman Robert F. Gentry said that a study group formed last year to investigate the problem came up with several suggestions, ranging from widening the road to a six-lane highway to rerouting it 600 feet to the west so that it would no longer pass through a delicate wetlands area.

Such plans have not been welcomed by local environmentalists.

“I think there’s a real desire to keep it as countrylike as possible,” Gentry said.

Ken R. Smith, director of transportation for the county Environmental Management Agency, said the county will spend up to $20 million for the road’s realignment if all parties agree to such a plan.