KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
A San Francisquito Canyon Road crash that left two with serious injuries was blamed on speed, CHP officials said Thursday.
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Carlos Ballardo, 28, of Lancaster, was reportedly driving northbound at approximately 80 mph near mile marker 8.9, around a windy stretch of San Francisquito Canyon Road in the Saugus area, around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday night.
Ballardo moved into the southbound lane, across solid double yellow lines of the two-lane road, to pass about five vehicles in slower-moving traffic.
That’s when Ballardo’s 2007 Chevy Cobalt recklessly entered a blind curve, and struck a 2013 Hyundai Elantra driven by Brian Zimmerman, 37, of Green Valley, who was going about 50 mph, according to witnesses in a California Highway Patrol report.
Both men are in stable condition, and suspected to survive the crash, although both were hospitalized with major injuries, according to officials.
Fire officials transported both men to Henry Mayo for treatment of their injuries.
CHP officers reduced traffic to one lane on San Francisquito Canyon Road for about two hours while they investigated Wednesday.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call 661-294-5540.
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This inconsiderate, careless and ILLEGAL behavior has GOT to STOP!!!!! Too many lives lost and lives changed forever because of impatient and reckless drivers on this canyon road. I don’t YOU drive like this, get back on the freeway, PLEASE!!!!
*If YOU drive like this…
These people keep driving so fast and reckless are destroying innocent families in our small community. They take the Canyon as a shortcut instead of the freeway and drive at unforeseen speeds. The ones causing the accident do not seem to live in our small community. They all come from Lancaster or Palmdale cutting through as a shortcut to avoid the sheriff or Highway Patrol. One was recently pulled over by Highway Patrol at over 100 miles an hour. They all try to pass in the double yellow line area which is killing people in a head on collision. Slow down! Take the freeway quit killing family’s.
The last accident that killed two people in that head on collision was caused by a man who owns a home in Green Valley. It’s everyone…so just pass the word on that everyone needs to obey the law.
I drive this canyon daily and people from Antelope Valley drive like lunatics and they pass carelessly daily. I have had the exact thing happen to me luckily I did not get hit by the guy passing illegally. By the grace of god i had a small dirt shoulder to move onto.
Highway patrol are rarely on the canyon.
TAKE THE FREEWAY!! STOP KILLING AND INJURING MY NEIGHBORS!!!
This is unfortunate, a driver let so many vehicles pile up behind them that someone became frustrated up tried to pass, well shame on him and shame on the slow driver who was likely doing that intentionally as many do in the canyon… it affected the lives of innocent people who just want to drive normal…
Mark, you are so full of crap. The speed limit is 55. Deal with it. If you don’t like it, petition the LA County Department of transportation to change it. Or better yet, move closer to your job in the LA Basin and stop treating a winding country road as if it was the 14 freeway.
Call LA County Supervisor Katheryn Barger and ask her when we’re going to get the lane dividers we asked for after two people were killed in January.
661-726-3600
—April.