From the Roadshow archives: Highway 85 tragedy that spurred safety changes across California

The tragic death of Carol Klamm was the first in a series of accidents in the late 1990s that changed safeguards on California's highways.

Editor’s note: Mr. Roadshow wanted to share some of his favorite columns and stories from more than 30 years of informing, entertaining and getting things changed for Bay Area (and beyond) drivers. He’ll be back on the road with new material soon. In the meantime, please keep sending Mr. Roadshow your comments or questions to mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.

The death of Carol Klamm was the first in a series of fatal accidents on Highway 85 in the late 1990s that led to California requiring median barriers to highways throughout the state. This is the saddest story Mr. Roadshow has ever covered, but also a rewarding one because needed safety changes were made. This story was originally published on March 2, 1996.

No one will ever know whether Carol Klamm would be alive had there been a median barrier on Highway 85 Wednesday.

But when traffic officials decided against constructing a metal railing or concrete wall down the middle of the six-lane highway, there were those who feared head-on accidents such as the one that killed the 35-year-old San Jose mother of two. Now local officials, horrified witnesses and concerned commuters are pushing the state to install a divider that could prevent future tragedies.

“This kind of tragedy makes my blood boil,” said Pat Dando, a San Jose City Council member whose district includes the stretch of highway north of Almaden Expressway where the accident occurred. “One death is too many. I don’t want to wait for a second or third fatality.”

Klamm is the first motorist to be killed by a car crossing the dirt median since the freeway opened in late 1994. She was pronounced dead minutes after a car driven by Jorge Cazarez Romero, 28, of Gilroy, spun out of control as he raced southbound at speeds approaching 100 mph.

Romero, witnesses say, was following another car containing his wife around 2 p.m. and weaving in and out of all three lanes when he clipped a southbound car driven by Brian Pottie of Cupertino. That sent Romero’s white 1979 Ford Ranchero careening toward the northbound lanes, where it struck Klamm’s 1995 Nissan Maxima.

“I felt a bump from behind and never saw him,” Pottie said. “He just shot across the median. There was nothing to stop him.”

The Highway 85 median is 46 feet wide and runs north of Santa Teresa Boulevard to the McClellan Road over-crossing in Cupertino, a distance of nearly 13 miles.

Were this median just a few feet narrower, a barrier would have been required. State traffic engineers say highway standards call for a barrier only when a median is less than 44 feet wide, or has a history of three accidents in a five-year period within a stretch of a mile or so.

On roads with medians 44 feet and over, cars stop harmlessly in the median “98 percent of the time,” Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss said. “That’s what our studies show.”

Weiss said Caltrans will review whether a center divider should now be added along 85.

Median barriers do cause some problems. While they are effective in reducing head-on collisions, safety studies show that they often lead to a rise in accidents as cars are flung out of the median and back into traffic. While deaths dropped on Monterey Highway and Highway 17 after barriers were installed, accidents doubled.

And, in this instance, CHP officers say a median barrier might not have kept Romero’s speeding car out of the northbound lanes. He was driving so fast that had he hit a barrier, it might have propelled him airborne and into the northbound lanes.

“With the speed of the vehicle and the angle at which he came across the (median), he could have just as easily landed on top of her,” Officer John Maxfield said.

The CHP says two or three vehicles have crossed the median into oncoming traffic on 85. Officials are researching the issue, but said they won’t have details until next week.

Still, local officials and motorists fear more terrible accidents.

“I’m outraged,” said Barbara Koppel, a former Cupertino City Councilwoman who lobbied for a median barrier before the new section of highway opened in 1994. “Why is it that it takes a death to get people’s attention?”

Added Mike Evanhoe, director of the Congestion Management Program in Santa Clara County and former executive director of the California Transportation Commission:

“I’m a very strong believer in median barriers. I don’t think people driving in one direction on a freeway expect to see another car shoot across the center of the road from another direction.”

Commuters offer another reason to worry – the high rate of speed at which cars travel on Highway 85, almost a straight shot from Cupertino to South San Jose. Cars traveling the speed limit are easily passed by motorists driving 75 mph or more.

“Cars travel so fast out there,” said Lee Kopp, who lives near the site of the accident. “My first impression when I first saw the highway was, ‘My God, there are no barriers. Somebody’s going to get hit.’ ”

Klamm apparently saw the speeding car coming at her, judging by the skid marks as she slammed on her brakes. But the fierce collision flipped her car, which was then struck by a Chevrolet pickup truck also headed northbound. Klamm’s car ended upside down along the dirt berm on the shoulder, where a wooden cross, flowers and a bouquet of purple and green balloons now lie.

Romero does not have a driver’s license, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles, and was charged with speeding and driving without a license two years ago. He is hospitalized in critical condition at Valley Medical Center.

Romero faces possible charges of felony drunken driving and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the CHP said.

Klamm’s husband, Geary, referred all questions to an attorney.

After the accident, as nearly a dozen emergency vehicles descended on the scene, Pottie stood in the median with another driver consoling Romero’s wife. But he said his mind drifted to 1994 news accounts that raised questions about the lack of an 85 divider.

“Now I understand why people were concerned,” he said.

Editors note: Five months following the accident the driver was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for gross vehicular manslaughter, the maximum penalty. Romero had pleaded no contest to the charge. He also admitted driving under the influence, causing great bodily injury and driving on a suspended license.