Wrecks near Mabry/CRG raise questions about speed limits

June Jorgensen, a shift manager at Clovis’ Cook’s restaurant and truck stop, slipped outside last Monday to pet a customer’s dog.

“They said that they had a Labradoodle, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to see the puppy,’” Jorgenson said.

While Jorgenson and her adopted granddaughter admired the dog, an 18-wheeler clipped the rear of a black SUV on the highway in front of them. The collision sent the SUV into a ditch, leaving the seven family members inside – including five young kids – reeling for help.

“I ran over there. The father had the baby, he thrust the baby girl in my arms, and he went back to get the infant out of the car,” Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson saw one boy with a bloody face. She sent her granddaughter back to the restaurant to get a towel and some ice.

Her voice grew increasingly intense as she described the scene.

"The speed here is just outrageous,” she said.

Accidents happen outside the restaurant “all the stinking time,” she said.

“Anytime a child is involved, I just get instant range.”

No one was killed in the Sept. 2 crash, but all seven occupants of the SUV were transported to Plains Regional Medical Center for treatment, officials said.

Chris Elam, Clovis Fire Department battalion chief, said the location, on Mabry Drive near County Road G on Clovis’ east end, is among the city’s more accident-prone areas.

It’s a high-traffic area, with trucks pulling in and out of the truck stop parking lot as vehicles whiz past, gaining speed as they head for Texas, or reducing their highway speeds as they come into Clovis.

“You get a lot of people coming in from Texas,” said Trevor Thron, the deputy chief for Clovis Police Department.

“Speed limits in Texas are 75 (mph). New Mexico's drops you down to 60 (mph) and then right there is kind of that point where you're dropping from 60 to 55 (mph),” and then soon to 50.

City officials did not have readily available records showing how often wrecks occur in the area. Jorgenson estimated “probably about every three (or six) months … It just varies.”

But near misses are also regular occurrences.

Jorgenson thinks a four-way stop light, caution signs or police officers posted with radar guns could be a solution.

“Even put up a little speed trap. Your speed is blah, blah, blah, and then have it flashing at you, like they do in Texas,” Jorgenson said.

Thron agreed that might slow traffic in the area.

“It kind of gives that extra trigger for people to slow down … those radar signs are getting pretty popular,” he said.

But Glenda Whitehurst, a trucker for Walmart who frequents Cook’s, said "There's no solution to anything except caution. Wake up and watch where you're going."