Cinders on Mountain Roads Pose Hazard Even with No Ice, CHP Says

  • CHP officer and Kern County firefighter from Station 58 discuss Mil Potrero Highway crash. Jassmone Martin, who was driving, and Ginger Martin, her mother, look on. There were no injuries. The CHP investigator said extreme caution and slow speeds are required to avoid skidding on gravel cinders placed on the curving road for icy conditions earlier in the month.

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    CHP officer and Kern County firefighter from Station 58 discuss Mil Potrero Highway crash. Jassmone Martin, who was driving, and Ginger Martin, her mother, look on. There were no injuries. The CHP investigator said extreme caution and slow speeds are required to avoid skidding on gravel cinders placed on the curving road for icy conditions earlier in the month.

  • CHP officer and Kern County firefighter from Station 58 discuss Mil Potrero Highway crash. Jassmone Martin, who was driving, and Ginger Martin, her mother, look on. There were no injuries. The CHP investigator said extreme caution and slow speeds are required to avoid skidding on gravel cinders placed on the curving road for icy conditions earlier in the month.

    Image 2 of 2
    CHP officer and Kern County firefighter from Station 58 discuss Mil Potrero Highway crash. Jassmone Martin, who was driving, and Ginger Martin, her mother, look on. There were no injuries. The CHP investigator said extreme caution and slow speeds are required to avoid skidding on gravel cinders placed on the curving road for icy conditions earlier in the month.

CHP and Kern Fire Department at Mil Potrero Highway crash

A two-wheel drive Mercury Tracer traveling at about 30-35 miles per hour on the curving turns of Mil Potrero Highway “caught cinders” Saturday, Feb. 5 and flipped over, a California Highway Patrol Officer said.

The accident occurred about 6:40 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, west of Yellowstone in the Pine Mountain community on the notorious “S” curves leading into and out of the area.

Jassmone Martin, 23 was driving east on her way to Frazier Park when the accident occurred. The car flipped upside down in the eastbound lane.

Martin said she is uninjured, though the car wheels were in the air and the vehicle’s roof appeard to be crushed in.

“We always wear our seat belts, and drive safely,” Martin said. CHP Officer Matt Barnachia said two-wheel-drive vehicles are at risk on mountain curves when the road has been sanded with cinder gravel due to ice a week earlier.

“There doesn’t have to be ice still on the road, the cinders can make you skid unless you are driving very, very slowly on these curves,” Barnachia said.

“All wheel drive is best for conditions like this,” he added, “if you don’t have that, take it easy…take it slow.”

Kern County Fire Department and CHP responded. —P.H.

This is part of the February 11, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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