It was a balmy Saturday afternoon, May 3. The Sibley family of Frazier Park was in their beefy 2005 Ford F-250 4×4 pickup truck, stopped in the westbound lane of Frazier Mountain Park Road to allow the car in front of them to turn into Midway Market. There are no turnout lanes in this area. All traffic must stop when a vehicle signals to turn into Midway on one side, or the Church of Latter Day Saints and Country Home & Ranch Realty on the other.

The Sibleys’ two children—three years and 12 months of age—were buckled into their car seats. Suddenly the couple heard the screeching of brakes behind them.

Heather Sibley recalls, "I had time to brace my feet against the dashboard." She remembered the sense that there was nothing they could do to stop the crash they knew was coming. "It seems like we had two, maybe three seconds to get ready," she says.

Behind them, Chris Bartman, 18 was driving a 1994 Nissan pickup. Four youths were packed into the small cab without seat belts, witnesses said.

The initial California Highway Patrol report does not say Bartman was travelling at an excessive speed. The region is a posted 45 miles per hour stretch on the 55 mph two-lane road where traffic has been steadily increasing over the past two years.

The impact crushed the front of Bartman’s truck, but left only a small dent in the Sibley’s heavy rear fender. Two youths jumped from the cab of Bartman’s truck and ran. Another girl’s knees and legs were hurt.

"They really need to put up warning lights or caution signs back there at the curve, so people will slow down," Heather Sibley said. "This road is getting very dangerous here."

—By Patric Hedlund

This is part of the May 09, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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