SALINAS, Calif. -- A bloody scene left behind on Highway 101 and Espinosa Road as a two-car crash sends a man flying from his car in Salinas on Tuesday morning.
The California Highway Patrol said the 50-year-old Castroville man attempted to make a left turn from northbound 101 to westbound Espinosa Road when he was struck by a car with a woman and her 15-year-old son inside around 9:11 a.m.
The man suffered major injuries and taken to Natividad Medical Center, then transferred to San Jose Regional Medical Center. The female driver suffered minor injuries, but was not hospitalized.
It's new information on a dangerous stretch of Highway 101 that Caltrans has been working to re-construct, but some said it's not fast enough.
Tuesday marks the latest car crash along that stretch of the Prunedale corridor.
"That's a very dangerous passing," said Juan Ramirez, store manager for Espinosa Produce on Espinosa Road. "You're going passed the highway, so there's cars going anywhere from 55 to 80 miles per hour."
Ramirez said it's a risk he takes every day coming in to work -- crossing incoming traffic to turn onto Espinosa Road from Highway 101.
"You have to accelerate pretty quickly, and you have to make sure that there's no cars coming, he said.
He said he witnessed the consequences when a car doesn't do that fast enough, like the accident that happened in front of his store this morning.
Caltrans has been busy making improvements along the Prunedale corridor. They're working on interchanges, so people can get on and off the freeway with ramps.
Ramirez said that's what he's counting on, not only for everyone's safety, but because some customers tell him they don't want to even go through the hassle to make the trip to shop there, when they can go somewhere else.
"We hope that this bridge being completed will help boost our sales," he said.
But Ramirez will have to wait. Construction on the Prunedale Improvement Project won't be completed until June of 2015.
