Lawsuit filed in wrong-way collision
Mother of victim alleges DOT negligence in death
SANTA FE — The mother of a young Santa Fe man who was killed in a wrong-way collision on Interstate 25 is suing the state Department of Transportation for alleged negligence in maintaining the stretch of highway through Santa Fe where her son and several others have died in wrong-way crashes in the past decade.
The suit also names as a defendant the Santa Fe restaurant that served alcohol to the highly intoxicated woman that caused the wreck. Robin C. Coale, the mother of 23-year-old Anton Gress, filed the wrongful death suit in state District Court last week.
Since at least 2005, the suit says, the DOT “had actual notice of numerous wrong-way accidents or wrong-way driving incidents occurring in the general area of I-25 where the accident occurred,” resulting in numerous fatalities. The “ultra hazardous road conditions, especially during nighttime hours,” are “due to the failure to place adequate warnings or signage to warn and prevent negligent or inattentive drivers from entering I-25 in the wrong lane of travel, and/or continuing in the wrong lane of travel due to the absence of any warning markings or signs on the shoulders of I-25,” the suit says.
Since Gress’ death — and after Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales asked for a “safety audit” of the interstate from Eldorado east of town through the city limits — DOT has installed several new “wrong way” and “do
not enter” signs and increased sign sizes on the exit ramps at the I-25/U.S. 285 interchange at Eldorado. There are plans to do the same thing at other I-25 ramps in the area.
The DOT has rejected other ideas, such as installing spike strips to keep motorists from driving onto the interstate using off-ramps.
“Our number one priority is keeping our families safe on our roads, and that is a duty we take seriously,” DOT spokeswoman Emilee Cantrell said in a written statement, when asked for comment on the suit. “This tragedy was caused by a drunk driver who drove on the wrong side of the road and had three times the legal limit of alcohol in her system. Sadly, this happens all too often, which underscores the need to continue fighting DWI.”
The lawsuit also says PC’s Restaurant and Lounge shouldn’t have served more alcohol to 43-year-old Clara Avina, who had a blood alcohol content of .29 when she drove south in the northbound lanes of I-25 and caused the wreck that killed her and Gress. No one at PC’s could be reached for comment Wednesday.
Avina, who was a records clerk in the State Personnel Office, drank two beers and a shot of whiskey while at PC’s the evening of Sept. 24 before somehow ending up driving north on I-25, according to a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office report. A man who said he intended to drive her home told investigators she slid into the driver’s seat and drove away after he stopped to get beer at a convenience store.
Among those killed in wrongway collisions on the same stretch of I-25 were five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family who died when their van was struck by a drunk driver from Santa Fe in 2006.
Coale is asking for compensatory and punitive damages in Gress’ death. Insurance companies Progressive Direct and Liberty Mutual are also named in the suit for alleged bad faith practices.