By Mike Hazlip—
Following a highly publicized collision that sent a pickup truck flying into the wall of a backyard in October, residents on the northwestern fringes of Citrus Heights say they’ve had enough with vehicle collisions along Roseville Road causing damage to their backyards.
An Oct. 24 collision along Roseville Road near the Placer County border left three adults and one child with major injuries and residents say it was just the latest in a string of collisions.
From October: Collision on Roseville Road sends truck flying into wall
The latest incident stemmed from a report of a stolen pickup truck in Roseville, police said. The vehicle traveled southbound on Roseville Road, eventually colliding with another vehicle carrying two adults and one child under the age of 10.
The collision sent the truck through the back fence of a home before it came to rest partially on top of a backyard shed. Residents say that was the fourth collision in a matter of weeks.
Kyle and Arielle Mize moved to a home on Imran Woods Circle in October last year and say accidents happen frequently. Arielle Mize recalled four collisions in the span of about two weeks that damaged private property on her block.
She said there was a four-vehicle collision on Oct. 13, a truck that damaged a neighbor’s backyard on Oct. 19, and another truck with a trailer that caused damage to a neighbor’s property on Oct. 20, all prior to the Oct. 24 collision that damaged her property.
Kyle Mize works from home using a shed in the backyard as an office, the same shed that was damaged in the Oct. 24 incident.
“Accidents in general happen all the time,” he said of the area. “I’ve probably heard, just like, while I’m home working myself, I’ve heard at least five or six.”
Arielle Mize said long time neighbors had warned the couple about frequent collisions when they moved in. She says she thought reports of accidents would be rare, but that has not been the case.
“Right before we moved, there were like two fatal accidents,” she said. “And I remember thinking, what are we doing here? But I was like, that should be pretty rare, but apparently it’s not.”
Renee Williams is another resident of Imran Woods Circle who has had property damage as a result of vehicles departing the roadway while traveling along Roseville Road. Williams said her back fence was damaged in a collision just days before the Oct. 24 incident.
“They took out my fence,” Williams said. “By the time we got around, he’s gone. He took out half of my fence, barely missed our neighbor’s fence by not even a foot.”
Jurisdictional maze
With the county line a few hundred feet north of Whyte Avenue, the roadway is a multi-jurisdictional maze between Citrus Heights police, Sacramento County Sheriff’s, Roseville Police, and the California Highway Patrol.
The Sentinel reached out to each of these agencies to verify claims of previous traffic collisions, including fatalities, along Roseville Road between Cirby Way and Antelope Road for the month of October.
Citrus Heights Police Lt. Chad Morris told The Sentinel that police responded to four calls for service in that area during the time frame requested. Three calls were at Roseville Road and Whyte Ave, the same location as the Oct. 24 collision. The fourth collision was Butternut Drive and Roseville Road.
Public Information Officer for Sacramento County Matt Robinson said the section of Roseville Road between Antelope Road and Butternut Drive is under the jurisdiction of Sacramento County Department of Transportation, while the stretch of roadway from Butternut Drive to the county line is “a multi-jurisdictional roadway” that is divided between Sacramento County and the City of Citrus Heights. Robinson said traffic accident data is shared by local agencies including CHP and Citrus Heights police.
Public Information Officer for the City of Roseville, Rob Baquera, told The Sentinel that the city’s jurisdiction ends at the county line, saying the section of roadway in Sacramento County is covered by the CHP. Baquera did not give any details on previous collisions or fatalities on the Roseville side of the county line.
In a Nov. 10 phone call with The Sentinel, California Highway Patrol spokesman Justin Fetterly confirmed two collisions in the previous 90 days, but could not comment further on collisions where a vehicle damaged a fence.
“I can verify two,” Fetterly said. “It would take a lot of research to pull up every accident and see if the vehicles are actually going into the fence.”
Fetterly said resources are spread thin throughout Sacramento County, but the agency does try to focus on areas known for higher collision rates.
“A lot of the county is a problem area,” he said. “As far as increasing patrols, it’s just a matter of resources. We don’t have them.”
What’s next?
Kyle and Arielle Mize, who have two young daughters, say something needs to be done.
“It feels like this particular stretch because it’s three different jurisdictions, it looks the way it does, I think because nobody knows what to do,” she said.
Although damage from the last collision has been repaired, Arielle Mize still plans to go before the City Council to see what can be done.
“What I would like to see which is more speed enforcement of some kind. One of those signs that says like ‘slow down with your speed,’ speed bumps around the corner or something like that, but the road is nicer [in Placer County] and then you get here and it’s just gravel, which I think contributes to some of the accidents,” she said referring to a gravel strip along the right shoulder of the northbound side of Roseville Road between Whyte Avenue and the county line.
Williams said she would like to see the city install a brick wall to protect the homes, similar to the one surrounding a power station on the block.
“It started with that house,” Williams said referring to the first incident at her residence several days before the Oct. 24 scene. “And it went in a row, and they took out all our fences. And we’ve been begging the city for a brick wall like the SMUD has to protect their equipment, where they’re not going to put one in to protect human lives. I mean this is horrible.”
Asked whether the city has received comments from residents about enhanced fencing or a sound wall in the area, then-city spokesman Elyjah Wilbur said in a Nov. 10 email that “The City has not received any fence or sound wall complaints for the location in question.” He added that most residential walls and fence lines are funded by private developers, or the responsibility of the homeowners.
The Sentinel previously reported on the city’s efforts to curb the number of collisions at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Old Auburn Road by eliminating one of the two left-turn lanes. Prior to the change, vehicles would routinely veer off the roadway, striking planters installed along the sidewalk that prevented the vehicles from damaging private property at the north end of Fair Oaks Boulevard.
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