Two fatal, head-on collisions occurred along Highway 46 within days of each other, just miles apart.
Sunday night around 10:30 p.m., a driver headed west on Highway 46 East hit a vehicle head-on, resulting in three deaths.
Last Tuesday, a very similar crash occurred near the intersection of Highway 41 and Highway 46 when a driver attempted to pass another vehicle, causing a head-on crash resulting in two deaths.
Templeton CHP said there had been no deaths this year, in either of those areas, until this past week. They also said they are still waiting on toxicology reports from Sunday night's crash.
In nearby Shandon on Monday, Maria Sanchez, who frequently travels from Bakersfield to Paso Robles, said she worries about getting in an accident along the highway and chooses to drive when there are fewer cars on the road.
"That’s the reason I drive in the night, because it’s less cars, less traffic," Sanchez said. "In the day, there’s always a lot of traffic. Especially on weekends.”
She said that drivers along Highway 46 tend to speed.
"A lot of people do go more than 65 here," Sanchez said.
When turning into the rest stop near Shandon, she worries about getting into a collision and feels better signage could help.
Commercial driver Jose Trujillo travels along Highway 46 three times a week for work but has only seen a few accidents in that time.
“I’ve been doing this for six years. I’ve only seen maybe two accidents," Trujillo said.
However, he said that the construction along Highway 46 adds a safety risk.
"This road construction is a little bit [of a] hazard… just being so close in a one-lane," Trujillo said.
Caltrans said no action is being taken at this time to modify the roads in response to these recent collisions, as they are waiting on information from the California Highway Patrol.
