Another Life Lost to Notorious Ortega Highway : Accident: Nevada man dies when his truck drifts into oncoming traffic. The two-lane stretch is known as one of the county’s most treacherous roads.

The notoriously dangerous Ortega Highway claimed another life Monday as a Nevada man died when his truck drifted into the oncoming lane, striking two other vehicles and snarling commuter traffic for four hours, authorities said.

Dominique Schwartz, 31, of Zephyr Cove, Nev., an employee of Granite Construction Co., which is building toll roads in South County, was pronounced dead at the scene after the 7 a.m. accident, said Officer Rick Pena of the California Highway Patrol.

Although current statistics were not immediately available, CHP records show 36 people have died on the highway between 1982 and 1992.

Schwartz was eastbound on the winding state highway about eight miles east of Interstate 5 when he veered into westbound traffic in a company truck and struck the side of a flatbed truck driven by Edward Garcia, 23, of Norco.

Both vehicles spun out of control and another eastbound driver, Marson Morgan, 64, of Riverside then plowed into them in his car, Pena said. Garcia suffered minor injuries and was treated at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center.

Both Garcia and Morgan were commuting to work, CHP Officer Kevin Scord said.

None of the drivers were speeding and it was not known what caused Schwartz to swerve into oncoming traffic, said Pena, who added that such mishaps often occur on winding two-lane roadways such as Ortega Highway, known as one of the most treacherous roads in the county.

The three drivers were going about 50 m.p.h., Pena said.

“Any time you have a two-lane highway, cars drift over for whatever reason,” Pena said. “It might be that they were falling asleep, talking on the telephone or reaching into the glove compartment. Two-lane highways are always dangerous. There just isn’t much room.”

Ortega Highway’s reputation for danger has grown in recent years as development in South County and Riverside County turned the narrow, winding, 32-mile stretch between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore into a busy commuter route.

The highway includes a section of hairpin turns about 14 miles east of Interstate 5 called “Ricochet Alley,” where dozens of cars have plunged down a deep ravine, 200 feet below the pavement.

Some of the fatal accidents that have occurred since 1992 include:

* A Corona motorcyclist was killed last October when he veered into oncoming traffic near San Juan Creek.

* An 18-year-old Huntington Beach man, who had just graduated from high school only two months earlier, was killed in August, 1993, when his car plunged off a cliff.

* A 23-year-old Long Beach man was killed in March, 1993, when his car went off a 250-foot cliff.

A study by the CHP in the late 1980s showed that Ortega Highway had four times the state average for fatalities on two-lane roadways.

Monday’s accident happened just east of Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park and caused the CHP to close the roadway, also known as state Highway 74, in both directions. It was not reopened until 11:15 a.m., Pena said.

Commuters who use Ortega Highway as a shortcut over the Santa Ana Mountains between Riverside and Orange counties were forced to detour either north toward Corona or south to the Fallbrook area.