Highway 126 Needs Action Now

Driving Highway 126 from Fillmore to Castaic on a daily basis for the last 10 years, my co-workers and I have had our share of close calls involving accidents on this deadly stretch of highway. In those years, at no time have we seen or been through anything like what has happened in the last two months.

The main reason why we are having so many accidents and unnecessary deaths can be attributed to Caltrans and the contractor that is doing the road widening. They have us weaving left, right, changing road direction almost on a weekly basis.

To make matters worse, they have installed barricades that only add to the danger factor. The barricades have reduced the width of the lanes and added an additional distraction to commuters. I find that I am constantly looking right to see if I am too close to these barricades and to make sure none of them have been pushed farther into my lane.

In addition, the work being done has always been at a snail’s pace. It is extremely frustrating to drive the stretch daily avoiding these barricades and other vehicles only to see that no work is being done. If and when this section of road gets completed, we still have the stretch from the Los Angeles County line through Interstate 5 to look forward to.

All of our local elected officials, along with members of the County Transportation Commission, have voiced their opinions and suggestions, yet I, along with all those 25,000 commuters on Highway 126, am still waiting for actions, not words. How many more of us must die unnecessarily and for what price?

JOEL QUINTERO, Fillmore

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I am a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic assigned to a unit that protects part of Highway 126. Last Saturday, I responded to yet another double fatality head-on traffic collision on the 126, at the Los Angeles/Ventura County line.

I live in Ventura and travel the 126 to work in Valencia. I am concerned for the welfare of all of us who use Highway 126 and would like to ask the officials to take an objective look at the problems surrounding the highway.

Speeding is a problem that will not go away no matter how many tickets are written by the California Highway Patrol. The traffic will be slowed temporarily due to high visibility of the officers, but high rates of speed will resume when units are removed. Unfortunately, drunk drivers are another reality that ishere to stay no matter how stiff the laws become. Human nature does not change.

I ask that officials take a close look at K-Rail, the concrete barriers visible along many of the state’s freeways. Since K-Rails’ inception and use as a center divider, there has been a significant reduction of fatal head-ons, and a tremendous increase in the survivability of accidents when they do occur.

The barriers are currently used to protect the Caltrans workers along the 126. Why? They work. We need them in the center divider of the 126 to protect us!

We may not be able to change human nature, but we can change the separation of opposing traffic on a deadly highway. It will come at a price, but the price is not too high to protect us, the innocent victims and our children.

KELLY LYNN, Ventura