No Traffic Fatalities Over Holiday

Holiday drivers on their way to and from family dinner tables meant packed county roadways over the weekend, resulting in more than 40 traffic accidents but no fatalities, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers report responding to 43 crashes in the county between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving--traditionally the busiest travel day of the year--and Sunday.

But most of the accidents were fender-benders, CHP officers said. Even an overturned refrigeration truck on the southbound Ventura Freeway on Friday afternoon, which snarled traffic for holiday shoppers, resulted in no more than minor injuries to the driver.

Not even Saturday’s heavy rainfall, which made roads slick throughout the county, caused major problems for motorists.

“With the rain, we probably had a little higher [number of accidents] this year than last,” said CHP Officer David Webb. “But we didn’t have any fatalities in our area, and that’s the really good thing.”

The most grisly traffic-related accident was discovered Sunday in Grimes Canyon between Moorpark and Fillmore. A bicyclist traveling through the area spotted an overturned Ford Bronco about 60 feet down a hillside. The body of a 55-year-old Granada Hills man was found inside. Authorities said the driver, Harry Smith, had apparently veered off a winding two-lane road in the canyon several days before his car was spotted.

Smith’s wife, Judy, had filed a missing person’s report with the Los Angeles Police Department after her husband failed to return home about 11 days before his body was found. Because the accident happened before the Thanksgiving weekend, it was not counted among the holiday accident statistics.

An autopsy revealed Smith died from a combination of blunt-force trauma and hypothermia. Exactly when the accident occurred and when Smith died have yet to be determined, coroner’s officials said.

CHP officers said Smith’s Bronco was not visible from the road and may not have been found for quite some time if not for the bicyclist.

In addition to accidents, authorities also tracked drunk-driving arrests over the holiday weekend. About 36 drivers in the county were taken into custody, Webb said.

“I’d say 36 for a four-day weekend seems low to me,” Webb said. “Lower probably than last year.”

Statewide, drunk-driving arrests were up slightly from 1,315 in 1997 to 1,408 in 1998. Fatal collisions were close to last year’s count of 23, increasing only by one this year.

Closer to home, Ojai authorities are calling a success last week’s crackdown on drivers who did not have their seat belts fastened. As part of a nationwide program, deputies in Ojai worked under a zero-tolerance policy to ticket drivers who violated the seat-belt law. Officers placed an extra emphasis on parents who failed to secure toddlers and infants in child seats.

In all, Ojai authorities handed out about 70 tickets, issuing most in the first half of the week.

“Gradually, as people caught on to what we were doing, we saw the compliance rate go up,” said Deputy Bud McCracken, traffic officer for the station.

McCracken also said most people remained good-natured while being cited--a $25 fine for individuals who did not have their seat belts buckled and nearly $300 for parents with children who lacked seat belts.

“Most people said things like, ‘Oh, I always wear my seat belt. It’s just this one time,’ ” McCracken said. “Yeah, right. . . . But I think people knew it was their fault and they were pretty receptive. So, it went pretty well. It was a good program.”