Citizens for Highway 49 Safety

Deborah & Bruce's Omen

On December 19, 2003, Bruce and Deborah Jones were involved in a head-on accident on Highway 49 at Clivus Road in Grass Valley, just 3 miles from their home. This marked the beginning of a long and painful journey for both of them. Deborah suffered a fractured sternum, floating disc fragments in her neck, a serious head injury, and many bumps and bruises. Bruce was sore and stiff for days, but his main injury was emotional trauma. Earlier that same morning, at 8:00 a.m., Bruce had retired from 30 years with the fire service. He was now thrust into the job of saving his own wife, then becoming her caregiver for months. The accident was followed by a long recovery period with countless doctor and physical therapy sessions.

Two years later, to the day: December 19, 2005, and only a few miles from their own accident scene, another horrendous head-on accident occurred. The collision was unfortunately one of many that happened that deadly year. But this accident was eerily similar to Bruce and Deborah's two years earlier: almost the same time of day, a white Chevy pickup truck, and young drivers crossing into head-on traffic over the yellow divider line.

"We were both sick when we heard the sirens and saw all of the emergency equipment speeding past us. We knew, we just knew it was bad. We had just been talking about our own accident and decided to go for a ride to get out of the house."

"We had no idea we would be right there on 49 and Combie to see everything flying by us. It was too much to take," Deborah remembers. "The next day when we read The Union and saw the article and a picture on the front page, we knew we had to do something."

Bruce came to Deborah and said, "We were spared for a reason, what can we do?" That is when Deborah picked up the phone and called Robyn Moormeister at The Union. "We informed Robyn that we were going to have a meeting addressing the safety issues of 49 (we didn't even know when or where. What were we thinking?) and could she help us. She immediately wrote an article about us and our plan for a meeting. This safety meeting dilema came to the attention of Supervisor Sue Horne who graciously took care of the problem. We now had Bear River High School for the meeting, and a date and time! Along with Robyn and help from Jim Ruffalo with The Auburn Journal, the meeting held on January 18, 2006 was a huge success with more than 300 concerned citizens attending along with California State and County officials from both Nevada and Placer Counties. Local television, radio, and news reporters also attended. Many of them informing the public days prior to the meeting.

Bruce and Deborah were also extremely fortunate before the meeting to have Chet Krage and Brad Weston join the group with their invaluable talents. The four then became the "Citizen's for Highway 49 Safety."

Speaking Engagements

Bruce and Deborah Jones are available to speak to your group or school regarding safety issues and improvements planned for Highway 49. In an effort to promote Highway 49 safety, they have recently presented to local High Schools, Lion's Clubs, and SIRS groups in the area.

What Is A Safety Corridor?

A Safety Corridor is segment of highway with a history of high fatal collisions (McKnight to Combie) or a segment of highway with potential for fatal and severe collisions (Combie to Dry Creek) that is identified and focused on by state and local officials with increased enforcement, public awareness measures, short-term improvements and long term improvements in order to reduce and prevent fatal and severe collisions. Safety Corridors that have been created on highways around the state are typically two-lane high-volume highways with a cross-centerline or run off the road collision history.

The Safety Corridor status sometimes qualifies CHP to obtain additional money for enforcement through California State Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), (currently not available for Highway 49); however, increased enforcement and CHP presence supported by the local CHP jurisdiction improves motorist adherence to speed limits and the rules of the road. Increased public awareness is accomplished through signing, advertising and other outreach to increase awareness of motorists to drive safetly. Short-term improvements often include creating a daylight/headlight requirement, new signs and markers, and the placement of centerline and shoulder rumble strips. Long-term major improvement projects are also pursued for the Safety Corridor through normal funding programs.

In summary, the purpose of the Safety Corridor designation and effort is to:

Increase CHP enforcement to improve driver behavior and safety

Increase motorist awareness to drive more safely on this segment of highway

Short-term improvements to increase awareness and improve safety

Long-term improvements to upgrade or widen the roadway

Segments of highway identified as Safety Corridors have been very successful statewide in reducing the fatal collisions. In particular, Safety Corridors with a soft barrier rumble strips such as on Highway 25 in San Benito County and Highway 46 in San Luis Obispo County have had significant reduction in fatals collisions in the years after the safety corridor designation and improvements made. Highway 25 went from 14 fatalities to 0 fatalities for a comparable two years after (100% reduction) and Highway 46 went from 20 fatalities to 3 fatalities for a comparable three years after (85% reduction).

Hopefully, the Safety Corridor designation and improvements we make on Highway 49 will have similar success.

↑ Thanks to Thomas P. Wood, Chief, Office of Traffic Operations, Dep't of Transportation