Mal Stich doesn't have enough fingers and toes to count all of the accidents he's seen along Highway 126 since moving to Piru some 10 years ago.

Stich lives near the 126, giving him a front-row seat to some gruesome crashes along a highway long known by locals as "Blood Alley."

"Speed is causing a lot of the accidents," Stich said by telephone last week from his Main Street home.

A week earlier, a Piru man was killed within walking distance of Stich's home. A pickup truck broadsided the driver's side of Herman Jimenez's car while he was driving across the 126 at the Torrey Road intersection. The impact pushed the car more than 100 feet, scattering debris across the busy roadway. The accident remains under investigation.

Jimenez, 45, is the latest casualty of what has become a particularly deadly portion of the 126.

In early May, a Moorpark woman was killed and three men were seriously injured when her sport utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck along the 126 near Pacific Avenue in Piru.

Overall, there have been 34 collisions at the intersection where Jimenez died from 1996 through 2006, according to the California Highway Patrol. Forty-eight people were injured in the collisions.

State, county funding the project

The California Department of Transportation is about to embark on a $395,000 project to make the intersection safer. The state of California is paying for half of the project, while Ventura County is kicking in the other half. The project, which could start this month, will include installing left-turn signals and extending the left-turn lanes.

But Janet Bergamo, president of the Piru Neighborhood Council, worries it won't be enough.

"They need to lengthen the time all the lights stay red in every direction," Bergamo said.

Without that, motorists driving the 126 will continue to zoom through the intersection well over the 60 mph speed limit hoping to beat the red light, she said.

As trucks, motor homes, cars and sport utility vehicles sped by the gas station on the corner, Debi Chessani said she also would like to see another traffic light installed. Jimenez's death reverberated through the town, she said. "It's not just because he was a friend, but also because we all know what happened to him could have happened to any of us."

Just about everyone who lives in Piru has a harrowing tale of Highway 126.

Monica Orozco, 50, remembers in the early 1970s how a semitrailer rammed a station wagon driven by a young woman with four children inside at the Torrey Road intersection. "All of the children were killed," Orozco said.

Other deadly accidents would follow. Caltrans eventually installed traffic lights at the intersection.

But some in Piru say the lights did little to improve safety. In fact, the intersection may be more dangerous today than ever, Bergamo said.

"You need to look in every direction and then look again before crossing," said Bergamo, who is having scores of "Don't Trust the Green" bumper stickers printed up to distribute to residents of the small agricultural town.

The 126 gained its "Blood Alley" moniker back in the days when it was a two-lane road from Santa Paula east to Interstate 5.

"It was pretty dangerous back then," said Don Johnson, who today is publisher and owner of the Santa Paula Times, a twice-a-week publication. Johnson remembers having to go out on numerous accidents as a reporter, including one in which a local beauty queen was killed in a head-on collision. Johnson said the impact was so gruesome he didn't recognize the young woman when they pulled her out of the car.

Highway 126 was eventually widened to four lanes in an effort to cut down on the string of head-on accidents.

"The highway is much safer today," Johnson said.

Some say it's more dangerous today

But others, including Stich, wonder if this is so.

"If anything, I think it's become more dangerous," Stich said.

The widening made it easier for trucks and other vehicles to use the road to get to and from Highway 5. The volume of traffic has steadily risen over time.

"Whenever I go out on to the highway, I almost always have my foot on the brake and look around as fast as I can to make sure that I won't get hit," Stich said.

Stich does not count on others seeing his brake lights or turn signals when he's on Highway 126.

"Many motorists just don't have enough time to react," said Stich, who has been rear-ended while trying to turn off the road.

He fears the highway will only become more dangerous as the area's population increases.

While long-term solutions may be difficult to come by, in the short run Stich would like to see a median put in. He also wants the speed limit reduced through Piru.