Bad crash on dangerous San Jose road sends man to hospital

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A bad crash on Branham Lane in south San Jose sent a driver to the hospital and has neighbors asking when someone is going to fix an ongoing problem.

A tree in the median on Branham Lane has a giant scar after a Honda Accord smashed through it around 5 a.m. Monday before coming to a rest in the lanes in the opposite direction.

"I heard a big crunch and then dragging," neighbor Dale Weiland said.

Emergency crews arrived on the scene and pulled the man from his car.

Weiland came out and saw what happened next. "They were doing CPR on him and they had an airback over his mouth and they were pumping him with air and then pushing down on his chest," he said.

San Jose police say the driver is a man in his 70s. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Westbound lanes of Branham Lane were closed at Lahaina Way for about four hours until the on-scene investigation was complete.

This wasn't the first major crash here. Sgt. John Carr, the supervisor for the traffic investigations unit, says this is a deadly stretch of road.

"One fatal we had was two cars racing. Another vehicle was a solo into a tree," Carr said.

Weiland said speeders are a problem on Branham Lane. In fact, one car hit his gate and wall.

Another neighbor had two cars crash into his house. "People do race up and down this street like they're off to the races and that's just how we just fear that we're getting hit all the time, left and right, and it's getting to be ridiculous," Weiland said.

Police say the driver went into surgery and there is no word on his condition. They'll test him to see if drugs or alcohols were a factor in the crash.