Vehicle Hits Tree in Richardson Grove; Occupant Receives Major Injuries

Around 4:17 p.m. a vehicle hit a tree off of Hwy 101 in Richardson Grove State Park. An occupant received major injuries in the crash

The vehicle went off the road and traffic wasn’t initially affected. However, when a tow truck arrived about 6:45 p.m., the southbound lane was closed to enable vehicle recovery, according to information on the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page.

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Troy Johnson
Guest
Troy Johnson
6 years ago

I hope all is well them. But please people, you need to slow down. EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Figure $$
Guest
Go Figure $$
6 years ago

Cut them damn trees down in Richardson Grove. That damn stretch of road is a death trap. You know how many times I have had the sh** scared out of me when a BIG MAC truck is coming right at you in that narrow stretch?? It should not be an issue to widen that part of the road. i know I know we have all the damn tree huggers fighting it. It’s a no brainer to me, it’s either we save a few trees live or human lives. For Christ sake man

Hugo
Guest
Hugo
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

There’s no need to cut the trees, they could put a stop on each side of the grove and then everyone could STFU, oh except the people who are too important to wait for 5+ minutes.

sparky 50
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Hugo

Get real man

Critter
Guest
Critter
6 years ago
Reply to  Hugo

Truth!

MK
Guest
MK
6 years ago
Reply to  Hugo

That idiotic plan makes about as much sense as half the BS logic flat-earthers come up with. Zero concept of the bigger picture.

hmm
Guest
hmm
6 years ago
Reply to  MK

The idea of cutting the trees fails to consider the bigger picture.

Conservative Stupidity
Guest
Conservative Stupidity
6 years ago
Reply to  hmm

See my username.

DELUSIONAL LIBERAL
Guest
DELUSIONAL LIBERAL
6 years ago

Flat earth may be real have you ever been to space or are you going to just let nassea tell you? The moon is self illuminated too as a matter of fact our ocean is salt water too just like a conductor of energy. Look at the symbol /united nations is a flat earth look at the antikythera it is an ancient greek calculator that has predicted the moon and sun movements for hundreds of years. My bigger picture it seems most libs have been created to live in hatred of some rich white man somewhere and most conservatives have been created to help the people going crazy screaming and kicking and flipping out to come to a calm sense

Jayne Dough
Guest
Jayne Dough
6 years ago
Reply to  Hugo

Drivers are the problem…NOT THE TREES, which have been there 100’s of years! It all works until someone is speeding! I drive this Route and Hwy 36, a lot, drive the speed limit through there…and you make it through without cutting the trees! If the trees were JUMPING out into the paths of a car…that would be a different story.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Jayne Dough

Yes they are. Everyone, mostly on a long haul going somewhere else, could drive leaving plenty of room between vehicles. They could be mind readers, having never or rarely been through this stretch, to inow exactly how slow each curve needs to be drive under each circumstance.

The point is they don’t. They get anxious to get home or on vacation. Or they are not sober. Or their load wasn’t stacked pefectly and shifts. Or they are in front of a jerk who tailgates. Or a local, who knows which curves are safe and which needs slowing, gets impatient behind them as they make their way to shop north or south. Or they make a mistake.

I can remember my first drive down a road where there are lots of curves, something I never experience previously, and I either drove too fast because the curve was unfamiliar and I did not know how to handle it or too slow because I did not know that it could be taken faster. I kept having to pull over to let a string of more experienced drivers give me the finger as they speeded by. When you are on a road you don’t know, a safe turn out place is frequently behind you before you know it.

What happens if CalTrans gets it right and no old trees are damaged and accidents are reduced? Maybe an old growth can survive getting smacked by less than perfect vehicles but the drivers might not.

Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
Guest
Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Uhhh….you don’t have to “judge” how fast each curve can be taken. That has already been done for you! Hence SPEED LIMIT signs!
Why are so many Amurkins in such a rush and so extremely impatient or get themselves into a rage when people are driving the speed limit on those curves. I have
gone down that road going 30, 35, 40 mph, as each curve will dictate, and have the tailgater behind me (a car length, or less) have a long line of tail “gaters” behind him/her.
I will spare you my thoughts about why so many Amurkins are obsessed with going so fast (no matter what the speed limit is on any given stretch of road, most people seem to need to go 5 to 15 mph (+) more). But “all y’all” can contemplate on that yourselves for a while.
As a retired first responder , and having helped put scores of people in ambulances or body bags after having extracted them from their vehicles, that the old growth redwood trees ALWAYS are the survivors in these encounters. They were not speeding, driving in an altered state or being controlled by their egos.
They were just standing there doing what they have been doing for hundreds or in some cases thousands of years. There is only a tiny percentage of the original trees left. Why NOT slow down and show these some giants some respect or even appreciate their existence? Take some deep breaths and say WOW! each time you drive on this stretch of road (or any other like the Avenue of the Giants, Mattole/Bull Creek, Briceland), even if you drive it every single day!
Be thankful that you are fortunate enough to live in such a beautiful place.

SoHumSmoke
Guest
SoHumSmoke
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

Unfortunately the people who want to keep the trees don’t/ haven’t realized that if they spent the time they spend on protesting by going out and planting new trees they could have planted hundreds of thousands of trees in other places to replace the few that should be removed….SMH

Truthy
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  SoHumSmoke

Slow down.

Tall Trees
Guest
Tall Trees
6 years ago
Reply to  SoHumSmoke

Yeah get busy replacing those 1,000-year-old trees. Nothing to it.

hmm
Guest
hmm
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Does not mean that on old growth will end up dying.

Doh!
Guest
Doh!
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Boy, Kym, you and fellow freeway advocates are real heroes of the modern era. One More Slice Of A Priceless Living Paradise Gone Forever In Your Own Backyard. Why? FOR A FREEWAY. Morons. Complete idiot morons. Screw you all.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Doh!

Feel better? Good for you. Made the world an uglier, more unthinking place? Yes.

Veterans Friend
Guest
Veterans Friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Doh!

Kym is part of the CALTRANS “family”

Doh!
Guest
Doh!
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

The absolute fact is that an irreplaceable and globally recognized living treasure, completely unique to our own neighborhood, is being permanently degraded. Whatever it takes to get you through the day is your business, I’m not lying to you or myself about it.

Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
Guest
Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Amurkins seems to need to turn every road into a straight line…so we can drive at warp speed no matter where we are. If you need to drive like that,
please move to the Bay Area, L.A. or where ever there are mega freeways so that you can be among your tribe.
We have logged or bulldozed out of the way (of progress), something like 97 percent of the original old growth trees. Except for a few parks, if you have ever flown over the area, you can see that all the old growth left, is in an extremely narrow band along the roadways.
There is always some agency or individuals rationalizing why removing JUST A FEW MORE TREES won’t hurt. Well…we only have a few trees left!
Can there not be any place on the planet that has been totally and grossly modified by human beings? It is a moral and a spiritual decision to cease decimating out heritage here and on the entire planet? The planet’s ecological systems are collapsing because there is NO WHERE on this planet (from the deepest oceans to the stratosphere) that has not been affected by humans (over logged, over mined, over developed, over fished, over polluted, over populated, over bombed ……). Can we not leave SOMEPLACE minimally impacted, especially in our own backyard?

George

Sam
Guest
Sam
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

When I go though that area it is not the big rigs having problems getting though, in general they are trained to drive their trucks. It is the RVs and trucks pulling trailer that have a hard time getting though.
Yes it would not take much to to make the road a lot safer.

sparky 50
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

Fuck yea, cut them fuckers down, they are not even old growth, biggest on is under 18 inches

Just Saying
Guest
Just Saying
6 years ago
Reply to  sparky 50

Untrue.

Truthy
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

Just slow the fuck down.

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

Drivers whining”…it was scary,I got scared…”make me laugh. GOOD!maybe you need to be scared!…at least then we know ur looking at the road!&hopefully considering the damage that could be done in a moving vehicle…&then,maybe even pondering a little deeper into the responsibility that comes with the privilege of a muthalovin drivers license!

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Maybe just stop all deliveries of everything and Humboldt Co can go back to a pre industrial age were people survived by their own head and hands and the unproductive died off. No more internet. No more TV. No more fast food. No more medicines. No more retirement, welfare or grant money. No government wages. Certainly would solve a lot of problems. No more drug addicts, pot grows. Thefts might go up.

Or we could just outlaw living in 100 miles of old growth. People are useless parasites anyway.

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Not sure if it’s all intended as sarcasm,I do see a gleam of happy idealism in ur statement,lol,&if u go by most other commenters mentality,then if we were minus the drug addicts&pot grows how would u figure a RISE in theft?!😆

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Those not willing to work for themselve might just think to steal the fruit if other’s work.

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

I’m sure one way or another they would die off with the rest of the unproductive…the kind of world u speak of,communities felt righteous about taking justice into their own hands&protecting what’s theirs…

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

The world of full of ugly little war lords. Thieves are only sometimes killed off. Historically they are unified and controlled by a Bigger, Badder Thief who proceeds to make everyone else’s life more miserable.

Conservative Stupidity
Guest
Conservative Stupidity
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

“People are useless parasites anyway.”

Not people; Conservative people. You almost got it right.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Do liberals shit in the woods? Apparently not.

Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
Guest
Bozo the Clone... I am a clone, NOT a clown
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Well…we already have all that stuff with the road that we have. What…? we needed it five minutes sooner that we got it?
I guarantee, and this is the bottom line…that no matter how many trees are removed, no matter how wide the road is made, most of the drivers going through there, will STILL drive 5 to 15 or maybe even 20mph FASTER than the speed limit!!! So there will still be many traffic collisions in Richardson Grove.

Ken D.
Guest
Ken D.
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

So sorry for you and your entire attitude. What a hatred for nature and common sense.

Conservative Stupidity
Guest
Conservative Stupidity
6 years ago
Reply to  Ken D.

See my username for a clue about why.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Yes, but I forgave your lack of understanding constantly. Was that not your intention? Giving warning so people would not expect much?

Nikki
Guest
Nikki
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

If people would do the speed limit it wouldn’t be happening! The trees have been there for a very long time, it’s not the trees it’s the people speeding or on their damn phones!

Mtn. Woman
Guest
Mtn. Woman
6 years ago
Reply to  Go Figure $$

How about EVERYONE SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!!!🤔 Those BEAUTIFUL AMAZING TREES have been here for hundreds upon thousands of years!🌲🌲 Oh and I’m not a tree hugger however, I have been a resident here for 34 yrs. and I DO NOT WANT this wonderful place to end up looking like BABYLON!!!!😡🛣 🌇🏙🛣ALL THAT HAS TO HAPPEN IS PEOPLE SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION!!!!

John Ripper
Guest
John Ripper
6 years ago

This stretch of road has been pretty much the same since at least 1945. It somehow served quite nicely through the heyday of logging. Countless load of logs — real logs –, Cats & yarders; loaders; logging machinery of every description; mill machinery. Much of this was huge overloads in both size and weight and they all made it through. Heading south were countless loads of lumber; logs headed to to other mills as well as more logging and mill machinery.

Now, logging is pretty much over; the mill machinery has returned south as scrap and truck traffic is a fraction of what it once was. So what`s the problem? People can`t get through with their Priuses, motorhomes & what have you without clipping a tree? Perhaps it`s the problem of the drivers. Great idea — cut down 1000 year old trees just because someone is too stupid and too inept to slow down & make it through a few gentle curves…….

Steve M.
Guest
Steve M.
6 years ago
Reply to  John Ripper

Exactly right.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Steve M.

Even one keeps saying that no matter how many times it’s refuted. It’s like having a discussion with a five year old. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Finest
Guest
Finest
6 years ago

I drive thru there every single day about and everyone drives too fast is the thing. There’s no reason. At 35 mph it takes 5 minutes to get from Bigfoot place to Patriot station. Big rigs, locals, tourists, college kids.. just slow down

Johnny
Guest
Johnny
6 years ago

So Hum Smoke. Do you even hear yourself or read what you just said. That is not even a reasonable argument. You know that the trees on that stretch of highway are very old and not replaceable.

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
6 years ago
Reply to  Johnny

Lives are replaceable, did you hear what you just said, but not sure I could go on knowing we had to cut down a few trees, haha haha too stupid,fight all you want , someday they will die, fall, burn or whatever slide into river,nothing last forever,sometimes you just have to let go, I know bicyclists always look forward to this section lmao

Your Mom
Guest
Your Mom
6 years ago

Thank you, Johnny.

D
Guest
D
6 years ago

Saw this wreck couldn’t of gone more than 40 mph as the turn went left they just went straight and went full head on with a old growth. Was a silver car…

Jayne Dough
Guest
Jayne Dough
6 years ago
Reply to  D

Thank you D, excellent info! I knew it wasn’t the trees fault!!!!!!!! It never is! Driver error once again!

Veterans Friend
Guest
Veterans Friend
6 years ago
Reply to  D

Speed limit is 35MPH😁

Christoph
Guest
Christoph
6 years ago

No don’t cut the trees just slow your roll and all will be fine! I think it’s so fucking funny that people blame trees on their bad judgments! People just keep getting dumber and dumber, something in the water I guess!

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

Just slow down,pay attention.geeze. those trees have been there forever.ive seen 2 big rigs pass at the same time,I was right behide them,no worries here!!lol come on.i went thru as a little girl with my dad in his market wholesale truck best part of the trip was to stop at the winding trees,as I called them and eat play in the trees. More tourist’s taken pictures of our gorgeous grove,and the way the road gently curves the trees. No where will you see this if just because a few folks can’t slow down enough to drive thru there knowing it’s there , want to just buzz kill them all.can we just keep it the way it is?🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
6 years ago

As a former resident of the area,who has a history of being one of those damn college aged kids who drove way too fast,in a top heavy Toyota pickup that loves to roll no less,I can fairly confidently say any driver worth a shit can handle that road,the problems lie in the tourists I’ve seen sitting on the hood of a moving car,presumably to get the best camera shot&intoxicated/cell phone distracted drivers&yet,even at excessive speeds,I managed to not hit any of them or a semi…scared drivers actually PAY ATTENTION to the road,cuz no1 WANTS an accident! That’s the reason most accidents happen on STRAIGHT stretches of the highway,people assume it’s smooth sailing&relax for their dab nap…1driver,who apparently failed to even TRY to negotiate the turn&some idiots wanna blame the trees,LOL!should we also blame the trees for all the pickups recently crashed on 101?!…heck,let’s just cut em ALL down…like the slogan in high school”earth first,we can log the other planets later…”

WJ
Guest
WJ
6 years ago

A bypass on the other side of the river. Or, a bridge through the river.

Just sayin’

Anonymous10
Guest
Anonymous10
6 years ago
Reply to  WJ

The bypass on the other side of the river is the only sensible solution.!!!! Plans have been there since the 60’s. Its time to do it and let Richardson Grove remain as is. The vehicles going through it have alway taken away the awesome big trees experience that this place could provide.

Anonymous10
Guest
Anonymous10
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Why would a bypass on the east side of the river have all those problems. You now access Richardson Grove over bridges on the north/south. If the road stayed on the east side of the river there would be no need for new bridges. The east side is not heavily treed and obviously has bee clearcut in the past. Sure some trees would be cut but nothing like you have stated.
Cut out all that through traffic in the grove and you have an even more world class tourist attraction!!

Shop in eureka
Guest
Shop in eureka
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Not only that but every single species of animal native to the north coast lives in that forest. From bobcats mtn lions and fishers, to yellow bellied toads spotted owls and bald eagles. It’s refuge from Reed mt and benbow for many of those creatures. Not inhabited much. Special. Cutting into it would just be another time we fuck up the ecosystem that other creatures live in too for our own gains.

Anonymous10
Guest
Anonymous10
6 years ago
Reply to  Shop in eureka

Put the road along the river on the east side, just like it is on the west side. That would minimize the impact of new road. Hopefully it would have wildlife friendly infrastructure to allow critters access to the river.

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago

Richardson grove needs the bypass which was proposed long ago. Caltrans can build decent roads, but they insist upon patching and patching… Go down to SoCal to see where the money gets spent!

Caltrans – build a new road and stop leaning on those tools!

TRUCKERS – slow the hell down and shut the fuck up!

Disturbed
Guest
6 years ago

That was the original plan WJ. Ah bit spendy……Ah hell California has lot’s of money, there should be no reason. Get Ed Voice on it!

Grin Reaper
Guest
Grin Reaper
6 years ago

I’ve spoken to Caltrans boss in Eureka about this more than once. I suggested make the speed limit 25 mph. Simple solution. He responded that a bunch of difficult review was necessary in order to change a speed limit. More work than a bypass or cutting a bunch of trees? I call b.s.

Susan Nolan
Guest
Susan Nolan
6 years ago

The place where most accident occur is not far from the Lodge in the middle of the Grove. I helped clean up messes from accidents there several times while working in the park. That turn will not be modified in the proposed STAA widening plan, which will concentrate more toward the two ends of the park. The only effect of the widening on accidents is traffic will be able to move faster. The STAA widening is not about safety, it’s about meeting standards for large trucks.

Fidlin the ganjo
Guest
Fidlin the ganjo
6 years ago

The average person learns from this to slow the fuck down, i doubt this clown will learn from it. Was the driver high or drunk?

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

I am home but unfortunately can’t chose my neighbors. Which is the solution to the problem offered by so many here. They tell peple to go away.

The only thing I do is tell them to think before opening their mouths. Just like telling people who have likely never driven there much if at all to know better, it is not an effective. It only allows the speaker to vent. And they prefer to vent without contradiction, being that everything is all about themselves.

Truthy
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Please stay! 👍👍

Covelo or busted
Guest
Covelo or busted
6 years ago

Hows about getting one of our excellent burl carvers to carve 3 CHP cars.. paint em up….A REAL red white and blue flashing lite on the cab…. Put one at the north end of Richardsons Grove, one at the south ,and one in the middle in the heart of the drive at the old Greyhound rest stop….Alls need happen is people SLOWDOWN … We could come to love the carvings as” The CHP Guardians of the Groves.”

. The solution is simple and Cheap. Caltrans is a powerful entity that must keep its engineers and workers busy as bees.Just like the Military. They dont appreciate the PUBLIC telling them what to do, and will pretend to listen and wait you out w/ big lawyers and $$$$$$….. OUR TAXPAYER $$$$$$$$ …And tell you that YOU are the reason all THIS costs SOOOO much. They are essentially steam rollers,and will use public funds to promote their particular ” ”Straight Road is a Safe Road”’Agenda… All the high speed deaths/collision Statistics north of Richardson grove to south Eureka [Some cars are driving 80 mph these days!] would disprove that ”FAST IS SAFER ”……..Any two long haul drivers that cant pass each other in Richardsons Grove [one traveling north ,one south] in a safe manner at a safe speed, at 3:30 in the AM in the pouring rain shouldn’t be allowed to receive a license, let alone sit behind the wheel! The solution is simple……

Skippy
Guest
Skippy
6 years ago

I lived in that area and tree huggers don’t want to see anymore deaths because of drivers who drive to fast on that stretch of 101. It’s not the road or the trees fault it’s humans who think they own the road and aren’t familiar with the twists and turns up here. SLOW DOWN And save your life as well as others.

Longwind
Guest
Longwind
6 years ago

THIN THE HERD!! SAVE THE REDWOODS!!! Those Trees are priceless, I know them well, many places in the US have no shoulder along a tree lined road, if you can not handle driving a certain road, do not drive it, to kill a redwood, when we have a limited number of redwoods, but human overpopulation… thin the herd. SAVE THE TREES. and get a clue.

Ram Priya
Guest
Ram Priya
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Its the shallow roots that will be disturbed Kym, ALL of them in the area that will be dug and that will bring about these majestic, rare, Old Growth Redwoods potential demise…not just a couple small trees being taken. Epic will challenge every attempt to harm the trees and I pray that will they prevail and protect them from Caltrans.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
6 years ago

Yup. Why not activate avenue of the Giants ?

Let’s go back to have all 101 traffic go through downtown Garberville and Redway and Willits and Ukiah and Cloverdale and Healdsburg… and Santa Rosa !

If you are old enough, you may remember when it took 12+- hours to get from Eureka to San Francisco.
3+- hours to Willowcreek. 4+- hours to Orick. 8+- hours to Crescent City.

guest
Guest
guest
6 years ago

Put speed/license cameras [like the Golden Gate Bridge]along the way and a zero tolerance speed limit and send out tickets. Hitting peoples pocketbooks will slow them down.

Ah
Guest
Ah
6 years ago
Reply to  guest

It might if it was a commuter road but most of the people on it are infrequent travelers at best. Many (the ones who stop at the tourist places) may drive it once in their life times. I did it maybe once a year and that is not enough to get familiar with it. Besides the safe speed varies so much. Slow to less than the speed limit on a curve then back up and back down. It is a confusing place for strangers with so many business signs and driveways. And none of those businesses like the idea of making it easier to drive past.

The comments on here remind me of a conversation I had while a passenger. The driver was complaining that people drove too fast past his house out of town. When I pointed out he was at that moment speeding past my own house. He said “That was ok on this road.”

The point is not just this accident,which could have been for lots of reasons, but the bottleneck on truck traffic in general. Either they have to go many more miles using I5 or they have to send more trucks with less payload.

M
Guest
M
6 years ago

May the victim of this horrible accident fully recover and be surrounded with the love of their family & friends.

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
6 years ago

I think I’ll put in another redwood deck ,got one or two old growths leaning towards my front redwood deck that need to come down

Doh!
Guest
Doh!
6 years ago

Hi, Kym…here’s the beginning of a “real discussion” about the issue. Caltrans and proponents of cutting further into our ancient redwood grove are metaphorically urinating on the face of mother earth. [edit]