Through the San Gorgonio Pass: Wind and Sand on the Way to the Desert

The drive from the Inland Empire to Palm Springs looks simple on a map: one freeway, no real mountains to climb. The difficulty is the pass itself, where the freeway runs between two big ranges and the air is squeezed through the gap. On a calm day you will not notice. On a windy one the same stretch can move your car sideways and fill the air with sand.

What Caltrans says about this stretch

Caltrans District 8, which covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties, says high-wind areas are common on all four of its interstates, and singles out I-10 in the Palm Springs area and I-15 in the Cajon Pass: gusts there frequently cause high-profile vehicles to be diverted or stopped when they reach 55 mph. If you drive a van, a camper or anything towing a trailer, check conditions before you commit to the pass.

Driving in it when the sand moves

California's basic speed law, as the DMV handbook explains it, means your speed has to fit the conditions, including wind and dust, whatever the posted limit says. When visibility drops:

• Slow before you are inside it, not once you are. The car ahead may be stopping for something you cannot see yet.
• Headlights on, and keep a far longer gap than feels normal. The DMV's rule of thumb for heavy rain or snow — if you cannot see farther than 100 feet, it is not safe to drive faster than 30 mph — is a sensible yardstick here too.
• Do not stop in a travel lane. Vehicle Code section 21718 allows stopping on a freeway only when it is necessary to avoid injury or damage, when an officer or a sign requires it, or when the vehicle is disabled. If you must stop, get completely onto the shoulder or, better, off at an exit.
• Hold the wheel firmly. The DMV warns that wind gusts are unpredictable and that larger vehicles are hit hardest.

What sand does to a car, and who pays

A serious blow can pit a windshield, frost headlight lenses and strip paint off the leading edges of a car in one trip. Whether that is covered depends on your policy. Wind-driven damage is generally a comprehensive question rather than a collision one, which means it is only covered if you carry comprehensive, and a glass deductible may apply to the windshield. Some policies treat gradual pitting built up over years as wear and tear rather than a single event. How your company reads it varies by insurance company, so photograph the damage the same day and report it as the specific event it was.

Summer: the heat on the far side

The Coachella Valley in summer is a different climate from the coast you left that morning. The DMV's guidance for extreme heat is to watch the temperature gauge, avoid long stretches at high speed, and turn off the air conditioning if the engine runs hot. Fueleconomy.gov notes that in very hot conditions air conditioning can cut a conventional car's fuel economy by more than 25 percent, particularly on short trips, and that the effect on hybrids and electric cars can be larger still. Leave with more fuel or charge than you think you need.

The drive home

Westbound on a Sunday after a festival or holiday weekend tends to put the most cars in the pass at once. Wind plus dense traffic is when sudden braking turns into chain-reaction rear-ends. Leave a gap you could stop in.

If you make this drive often, check whether your policy includes comprehensive and how glass claims are handled; on this road, that is the coverage that gets used.