Crashes on dangerous stretch of Ramona Expressway lead to call for safety measures

It’s been several days since Luis Gutierrez has had to sleep in his parents’ bedroom to keep the nightmares at bay, but he still jumps whenever he hears a car zoom by, especially at night. On the night of June 12, the 22-year-old was returning to his Nuevo home after dropping off his girlfriend at her Moreno Valley home after a day trip to Orange County. Gutierrez was traveling on the Ramona Expressway, as he’d done hundreds of times before, when he encountered a crash scene in the eastbound lanes near Lakeview Drive in Nuevo, according to California Highway Patrol reports. Gutierrez saw Felipe Landeros, a 52-year-old father of eight — three of them autistic — get out of his vehicle and move alongside it, almost as if inspecting the damage. As Gutierrez slowed down to ask Landeros if he needed any help, a third driver struck Landeros and his car. “I was in shock,” Gutierrez said. “The car hit right where he had just been.” Landeros died. His was the third death along that stretch of Riverside County roadway in a week and the seventh on the road between San Jacinto and Perris since April 18. There were 33 crashes the first half of this year along the portion of Ramona Expressway where Landeros and two others — Terrell Moore, 23, of Moreno Valley and Erik Rodriguez Santos, 33, of San Jacinto — were killed, according to CHP statistics. Last year there were 38 crashes for the entire year. “Currently this year the numbers have gone up significantly but there doesn’t appear to be a single reason behind that,” said CHP Officer Daniel Olivas. Distracted drivers, speed, lack of sleep and more factors have contributed to crashes, he said, but Olivas said officers have stepped up their patrol efforts along portions of the roadway. However, Gutierrez said that was only a temporary fix. “They were out here for a few days, but I they’re not around anymore,” Gutierrez said adding that a more permanent solution is needed to address the issue. Even adding lighting along that portion Ramona Expressway would help prevent some crashes, said Gutierrez. “That lady who hit him couldn’t see him because there are no lights,” he said. Olivas agreed that the area lacks lighting. “That would definitely become a factor particularly with pedestrian fatalities,” Olivas said. “They’re hard to see as it is. Even brighter clothing at night can be difficult to spot.” The loss of Landeros has taken a toll for the Nuevo man’s family, said his niece Gabriela Ruedas. “The loss of my uncle devastated the whole family,” she said. Landeros and his wife have six children and he has two older children from a previous relationship, Ruedas said. “He was the sole provider for his six kids,” she said. “One of his daughters which just turned 18 is going to start college at UCLA this semester. They are just taking it day by day to try to survive financially and emotionally without him.” The family started a GoFundMe to help with expenses after Landeros’ death. The spate of fatal crashes on the Ramona Expressway has led to a call to make the road between San Jacinto and Perris safer. Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, who represents the western side of the route, said the death toll is unacceptable. He proposed safety measures such as adding the Ramona Expressway to the county’s existing contract with the California Highway Patrol for special patrolling, declaring the road a “safety corridor” and doubling the fines for traffic citations within the area. “It’s time to bring this nightmare to an end,” Ashley said in comments to the Ramona Expressway Corridor Board. Ashley also laid some blame on environmental groups that have sued to block construction of the Mid-County Parkway — which would serve as an alternative to the Ramona Expressway — as well as truck lanes on the 60 Freeway through the Badlands area between Moreno Valley and Beaumont. “The loss of lives in these important traffic corridors need not have happened,” Ashley said. “The delay caused by the lawsuits bears some blame and responsibility for the loss of these innocent lives.” Those suits have been settled and the project should be able to move ahead. Jonathan Evans, legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups opposed to the expressway for environmental reasons, said the supervisor’s blame was misplaced. “Unfortunately, Supervisor Ashley’s attempts to place blame where it doesn’t belong can’t be supported by the facts,” he said. “The upgrades to the Ramona Expressway were not planned to be completed until 2020, so any traffic accidents in 2018 can’t be blamed on actions taken to reduce the environmental harm of new freeway development.” For Gutierrez, the true issue is making the roadway safer. “It’s really affected me,” he said. “I don’t drive on it at night at all. My dad works in Orange County, and I’m nervous until he calls us to let us know he’s safe. I don’t even want my girlfriend to come visit me because it’s so dangerous. When you drive down it, you see all the crosses for the people that have died and it’s like you’re driving through a graveyard.” Ramona Expressway fatal crashes June 12 — Felipe Landeros, 52 of Nuevo, died just after 11:30 p.m. in the eastbound lanes near Lakeview Drive in Nuevo. June 11 — Terrell Moore, 23, of Moreno Valley, was struck head-on by a reported intoxicated driver in a stolen pickup near Fifth Street in Nuevo. June 5 — Erik Rodriguez Santos, 33, of San Jacinto died when his 2018 Ford Escape drifted across the double-yellow lines near Hansen Avenue in Lakeview, striking a trailer being towed by an eastbound pickup truck, then hit, head-on, a Dodge Charger traveling behind the truck and trailer. May 31 — A 59-year-old Van Nuys man was hit by a car while walking across Ramona Expressway near Perris Boulevard in Perris without using a crosswalk. May 25 — Two people on a motorcycle were killed in a head-on collision with a truck about 3:45 a.m. on Ramona Expressway between East Rider Street and Lakeview Avenue in Nuevo. April 18 — Kayla Castro, 19, of San Jacinto, was killed in a head-on crash in the area of Ramona Expressway and Bernasconi Road in Perris.