Why Thursday morning wreck on Scenic Drive has police issuing a reminder to drivers
The driver of a pickup suffered only minor injuries — complaints of pain, an officer said — in a crash early Thursday morning on Scenic Drive approaching Bodem Street entering downtown.
The crash, though, is a reminder to drivers to take their time when driving to their destinations, especially when roads are wet from rain, said Modesto police Lt. Tom Ciccarelli.
At about 6:15 a.m., the driver was heading east on Scenic when he lost control just east of Bodem, went off the road and flipped his truck onto its side in a stretch lined with shrubbery and boulders. Firefighters removed the pickup's windshield to extricate the man.
The Modesto Fire Department reported that American Medical Response took the driver to a hospital.
Some drivers heading into downtown were forced to make a U-turn and head back toward Coffee Road to find an alternative route to their destination.
"That one (Scenic east of Bodem) is by far one of the most precarious areas," Ciccarelli said. "I think a lot of it is the design, and drivers' high rates of speed. They have to learn to lower their speed as they approach the curve."
Other areas in the city that are "more notorious" for crashes, Ciccarelli said, include major intersections like McHenry and Briggsmore avenues and Tully Road at Standiford Avenue.
"It's often people trying to make the yellow light," he said. "We want to remind people to slow down, and when it's wet out, leave extra time to get to where they're going.
"We make the same reminder to our police officers, our own staff, people who are driving seven hours a day."
Rain is possible in Modesto through midmorning Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. The day then is expected to be partly sunny.
A 30 percent chance of rain returns Thursday night and continues through Friday night. The expected amount of precipitation is small, but it doesn't take much to make the roads slick.
This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 7:41 AM with the headline "Why Thursday morning wreck on Scenic Drive has police issuing a reminder to drivers."