Speed kills.
And, because it kills, law enforcement officers vigilant about making sure it does not happen, slapped more than a dozen motorists Friday with speeding citations.
Recent serious traffic collisions that have gripped the conscience of the Santa Clarita Valley have prompted both the California Highway Patrol and the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station to step up their speed monitoring efforts.
Initial reports released by the CHP, reveal that one of two drivers involved in Wednesday’s head-on crash was travelling about 80 miles an hour on San Francisquito Canyon Road.
Both drivers remain in fair condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital with serious injuries.
On Friday, within a day of the head-on crash that nearly claimed the lives of both drivers on San Francisquito Canyon Road, CHP officers intensified speed monitoring on the winding rural road north of Copper Hill Drive.
At least 14 motorists were issued citations for speeding, according to a post on the CHP’s website.
“A Newhall CHP officer spent the day on San Francisquito Canyon road today,” the CHP social media post reads.
“In just a few short hours, he was able to write 14 tickets and impound one vehicle for a suspended license due to numerous DUIs,” the post reads, in reference to driving under the influence of alcohol violations.
“He was able to stop one car for 93 miles per hour and another for 90 mph. This vehicle (as posted with a photo) was stopped for 70 mph and passing over double yellow lines.
The post closes with a warning: “Be advised, drivers, we are out there.”
Traffic cops with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station report seeing the same high speeds in their speed monitoring.
“Obeying the speed limit maintains the safety of the drivers and vehicle occupants on the roadway,” said Lt. Leo Bauer with the SCV Sheriff’s Department.
“You have multiple elements utilizing the streets whether it is vehicles, pedestrians or bicyclists,” he said. “That is why it is necessary to have an established set of rules for the road to safely travel from one destination to another.”
Triple digit speed
On Friday, deputies reported having cited one motorist for triple digit speeding on an inner city road.
“He told us he was going to work,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station wrote in her post to social media.
The cited driver was clocked with laser speed-monitoring technology traveling at 104 miles an hour on Golden Valley Road, Miller wrote in her post.
The plea of the sheriff’s station is the same plea we hear from the CHP: For our community, our families … slow down.
“The deputy estimated that the driver was going approximately 100 mph and – using a laser – the driver’s actual speed was measured at 104 mph,” Miller said.
The 28-year-old man, a local resident, told the deputy that he was on his way to work, she said.
Miller notes that if convicted, the driver cited for triple digit speeding is looking at a fine in upwards of $950 AND a 30-day driver’s license suspension of his driver’s license.
“If anyone thinks that penalty sounds harsh, the consequences of this driver’s speed could have been much worse,” Miller said.
“He could have lost his life, or have been responsible for the loss of other’s lives,” she said. “Speed limits- they’re there for a reason.”
Speed was specifically cited by sheriff’s investigators as the main factor in a Valencia crash that claimed the lives of two local men on July 4.
Killed in the collision were 18-year-old Hart High School grad Collin Charles Gore and 34-year-old Joel Thomas Godfrey, both of Santa Clarita.
Sheriff’s deputies stepped up their monitoring of speed on McBean near Decoro in the days following that fatal crash.
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