Fallbrook residents raise alarm about speeding problems on Gum Tree Lane

Some Fallbrook residents are sounding the alarm about speeding problems in their area.

Neighbors along Gum Tree Lane say they have been concerned for years, but their worries were realized with a dangerous crash on New Year's Day.

The crash was "exactly at the spot we thought it would happen," said Tom Winter. "Gum Tree and Autumn Rose."

The crash, he said, happened when a speeding driver who was coming over a hill in the area – and thus blind to the road conditions ahead – struck a delivery vehicle coming out of a driveway.

Both people were OK, Winter said, but one of the vehicles was flung so far by the accident that it ended up on an adjacent road, Hamilton Lane. It was a sign that the crash could have been much worse, Winter said.

"I'm not exaggerating, we have people doing 60 and 70 miles per hour on Gum Tree," Winter said.

Winter is not the only one who sees a problem.

Mario Geracitano lives in the same area and said he is often worried about the combination of blind driveways and speeding drivers leading to deadly results.

"I have an RV trailer, and I always cross my fingers when I have to pull out of there," Geracitano said. "I'm just hoping that nobody comes over the top of that thing. I think somebody's gonna get killed there to be honest with you. It's actually a matter of time because they just – it's just horrendous. (People are going) 80, 85 miles per hour coming over that hill."

He said speeding has long been a problem.

"I can think back four or five years ago when I was standing out here remarking to my son-in-law that they go too damn fast on this road," Geracitano said, "and a school bus went by going 60 miles per hour, so if the school bus isn't following the speed limit how the hell can we expect anybody else to?"

"People come over that top really fast," says another area resident, Gilbert Rodriguez. "The speed limit is 35 miles per hour and they just kind of do their best. People who get caught up in it are either people who are visitors or delivery drivers."

He added that he's seen at least one crash there before.

"When our kids were in high school, one of their friends was pulling out and he got t-boned," Rodriguez said. "That was probably 20 years ago."

The problem isn't unique to just Gum Tree Lane.

On Dec. 10, 2020, 60-year-old Symone Conley was walking along Gird Road with her husband when she was struck and killed by a pickup truck driver.

Authorities later arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of driving under the influence, manslaughter and felony hit-and-run in connection with the crash.

"I think it shows a situation with a lot of speeding in Fallbrook in general, but some of these roads are just dangerous because we're in a hilly area with a lot of blind spots and people are speeding, partially because there's a lack of enforcement," Winter said. "We're unincorporated. We don't have our own police force."

On Gum Tree Lane specifically, the California Highway Patrol said there have been two reported crashes in the last five years, including one in October 2020.

Winter said he has talked to the San Diego County Department of Public Works to bring the issue to their attention and see what can be done. The Department of Public Works did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].