DALY CITY, Calif. (KRON) — Mother Nature’s atmospheric rivers turned the San Francisco Bay Area’s roadways into giant slip and slides this winter.
Bay Area drivers have navigated flooded and slick highways for months. The brunt of windy, wet storms continues riddling roads with storm debris, toppled trees, and deep potholes.
Even after more than a dozen drenching storms, some Bay Area drivers still haven’t lightened up on the gas pedal.
California Highway Patrol officers were out at another storm-related crash this week in which a car was partially crushed under a semi-truck in Morgan Hill. The driver reportedly lost control when his vehicle hydroplaned and fishtailed.
The CHP Hollister-Gilroy office tweeted photos from the crash scene and wrote, “Just another reminder to slow down while driving during inclement weather. Luckily, nobody was injured in this crash. Please slow down, limit your distractions, and get to your destination safely.”
On a flooded patch of Highway 280 in Daly City, a Tesla driver lost control and crashed into a large tree Wednesday. The impact from the collision caused the tree to fall on top of the Tesla.
Amazingly, the Tesla driver walked away with minor injuries. He told KRON4, “I was driving, second lane from the fastest lane. Then I started hydroplaning. That’s when I lost control and went straight towards the tree. Branches went through my glass. The only way I could exit my vehicle was through the rear window.”
“I am a little shaken up,” said the driver, who asked for his name to not be published.
The driver said he was grateful no one else was inside the Tesla with him. “I am glad my wife wasn’t in the car. I just came from dropping off our son, I am glad he wasn’t in the vehicle,” he said.
CHP Officer Mark Andrews said excessive speeds may have been the primary cause of the Highway 280 tree crash.
Officer Andrews advised all drivers to “avoid hard breaking applications and also increase your following distance behind other vehicles. In the event of an accident or an emergency up ahead, it allows you to break so that you have more space to slow down and stop before becoming part of that same collision.”
During Tuesday’s rainstorm, drivers were still speeding on Highway 17, a road that’s notorious for its winding curves and high rate of collisions. One SUV flipped in the middle of the highway and several vehicles were tangled in the wreck.
The CHP cautioned that road conditions are still dangerous even when there is a lull between rain showers. “The roadways are still wet and slippery, especially on SR-17. Please slow down,” the CHP Santa Cruz stated.
During the brunt of a storm, try to stay home. The CHP San Jose wrote, “If you MUST leave your home during inclement weather: slow down, both hands on the steering wheel, turn on headlights, allow space between cars, and watch for down tree branches, trees, sinkholes, and powerlines.”
