Mending Fence (Again)

Skid marks and damaged posts - I'd like to see the car that did this damage!

We lease the Doty Ravine Preserve from the Placer Land Trust.  The property, which is bordered on the east by Gladding Road, includes about a mile of riparian habitat, lots of vernal pools, and some beautiful valley oaks.

Gladding Road makes two 90 degree turns adjacent to the preserve.  The western most turn is a problem - cars travelling downhill (southbound) on Gladding sometimes miss the turn (when it's wet, or when people are driving too fast).  This is our fourth season on the preserve, and yesterday, the 16th car went through our fence.  No one has ever offered to help fix the fence.

I guess I grew up in a different time.  While I've always been a cautious driver (and subsequently have never had an "accident" of this nature), I was always taught to take responsibility for my actions.  I'd like to think I'd be fixing a fence that I'd driven through.

At my folks place east of Sonora, we had a half dozen or so incidents of people driving through the fence.  Probably half of the drivers involved fixed (or at least paid for) the damage.  We've had no such luck here - a sign, I think, that rural Lincoln is not so rural any more.

I'm not sure what the solution is - it's a dangerous corner.  We joke that the county could put a ramp at the corner, which would launch cars over the fence (saving the fence and allowing us to catch the offending drivers).  At some point, I'm sure that someone will hit a tree or pole at the corner and be seriously injured (or worse).  In the meantime, I'd just like some help fixing the fence!