Trash truck hits tree branch, triggering Mussey Grade Road closure

Friday, July 18—A trash truck collided with a large oak tree branch leaning over Mussey Grade Road this afternoon, causing the roadway to be covered with branches and limbs and impassable until the county can clear it.

The collision occurred around 2:30 p.m. just south of Dos Picos Park Road.

JoBeth Lytle, road supervisor for the county’s Ramona road station, estimated the road won’t be cleared for traffic until about 6:30 p.m.

Senior volunteers from the sheriff’s Ramona station are conducting traffic control at Mussey Grade and Dos Picos Park roads.

The trash truck driver, who is in his 40s and is from National City, had a three-inch laceration on his forehead and another laceration on the back of his head and was transported to Pomerado Hospital, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Kattke.

According to the CHP officer, the driver had made a left turn from a driveway onto Mussey Grade and was traveling 7 mph and “said he heard a crack and his truck stopped immediately.”

Kattke estimated the tree to be about four feet in diameter.

At its June meeting, the Ramona Community Planning Group discussed an oak tree that was leaning over the travel lane on Mussey Grade Road, south of Dos Picos Park Road.

Scotty Ensign, planning group vice chair, said trash trucks were clipping the side of the tree.

Options discussed at that meeting were tree removal, road improvements or realignment, and cautionary signage.