After playing in the snow, a family walks down Fern Valley Road from Humber Park, which was closed to vehicles all day on Sunday and patrolled by the U.S. Forest Service. People were allowed to park on the streets and walk up, but not allowed to drive up due to unsafe icy and snow conditions. Photo by Jenny Kirchner

Three traffic incidents occurred over the last week, according to Darren Meyer, California Highway Patrol public information officer. Reports are taken from the responding officer narratives.

At 9:55 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, Omar Razo, 40, of Idyllwild, was driving his 2007 silver Toyota Yaris eastbound on Highway 74, 1 mile east of Lake Hemet Road when, according to the preliminary report, he attempted to pass on the right a CHP 2011 Ford Expedition cruiser driven by on-duty CHP officer Graham Aanestad who also was driving east. 

It was cloudy, the roadway was wet and the CHP cruiser made a right-hand turn just as Razo was attempting to pass. The vehicles side-swiped each other. No fault has been assigned at this time as the report is still preliminary. There were no injuries in the incident.

At 2:50 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Carolyn Guerrero, 40, of San Diego, was riding her 2007 orange Harley Davidson motorcycle eastbound just east of Pinyon Drive on Highway 74 when, according to the report, she made an unsafe turning movement, hit the shoulder and laid the bike down on the side of the roadway. Guerrero was transported by American Medical Response to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

At 12:05 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Thomas Weathermon III, 38, of Hemet, was driving his 2008 white Dodge truck westbound on Highway 74 just south of Strawberry

The California Highway Patrol was also patrolling Fern Valley streets and local highways, requiring snow players to move their vehicles if they were blocking the roads and warning people to get off of private properties or they would receive citations and their vehicles would be towed. Officer Mike Murawski called Idyllwild Garage to tow one truck parked on Highway 243 across from the Nature Center. It was immediately towed while parked over the white line causing a traffic hazard.
Photo by Jenny Kirchner

Creek Bridge when, because of excessive speed, he lost control of his vehicle, hit the mountain and overturned. According to Meyer, the attending officer had “probable cause” to arrest Weathermon for driving under the influence and charges are being forwarded to the district attorney.

A plastic sled in pieces after a hard day of snow play. Photo by Charles Fojtik