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Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2016. Yesterday's evidence of a car crashing off the southbound 2 Freeway onto Corralitas Drive became tragic once neighbors started sharing photos. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
The neighbor who first reported the incident to me, was relieved that no one on Corralitas Drive was struck by the flying car or debris. Photos at street level were shot around 9 AM. Corralitas Walk is the public sidewalk heading up the hill adjacent to the southbound 2 Freeway in the background of the above photo.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2016. That's not a retaining wall in the background, it's the dirt embankment of the 2 Freeway. Notice the fire engine and cars up on the 2 Freeway. There is no guardrail. There has never been a guardrail there. In the past, enormous Eucalyptus trees stopped cars from flying off this section of freeway.
In July, CalTrans cut down all the trees in the parkway it deemed as unsafe, including the 50+ year old Eucalyptus trees that did not burn in the June 19, 2016 Silver Lake Fire.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2016.
As jarring as the photos are, we shouldn't be surprised a
car flew off the southbound 2 Freeway. Neighbors have been warning about this potential scenario for months. We hope the driver is
recovering from this horrible crash.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2016. The scale of the 2 Freeway slope and inadequacy of the guard rail is more evident when viewed from above the Red Car Property. The guard rail,prior to the crash and prior to the tree carnage, has always been approximately 50 long, almost all of it leading up to the overhead freeway sign.
Beginning in August, shortly after Cal Trans cut down all the trees adjacent to Corralitas Drive south of Rosebud Ave., neighbors tried to get the attention of public officials and CalTrans regarding the health and public safety issues with the recent tree carnage. One neighbor wrote to several elected officials and CalTrans:
"I have 3 children [ages omitted] that play on the cul-de-sac. There’s
only a small strip of guard rail by the freeway sign. We’ve seen a few
cars end up on the ditch where the trees prevented them from ending up
on Corralitas.
I don’t feel safe having my kids play outside anymore. The fence on
Corralitas side will not prevent a fast moving car from ending up on my
street."
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2016. You wouldn't have been safe in your own driveway from large pieces of flying car parts. This large piece of the car easily could have killed a young child as it landed a good 12 feet up a neighbor's driveway. Another neighbor's parked car window was shattered by flying debris.
This summer, I had several
conversations with CalTrans representatives regarding the section of the 2 Freeway burned in the Silver Lake Fire. Among other topics, I
requested concrete K-Rails, the "temporary" barriers CalTrans uses to protect their workers from traffic in long term construction zones. On multiple occasions, and despite their awareness
of my documentation of the removed trees stopping cars
from flying off the freeway in 2015: both CalTrans reps said the safety of the
motorists on the freeway was their only concern; not the safety of the adjacent residents or users of city streets.
If that's true, then K-Rails are warranted on the southbound 2 Freeway adjacent to Corralitas between the Rosebud Ave Overcrossing and approximately 100' north of the intersection of Allesandro Way and Lake View Ave. Need more reasons? Check out some of the videos on CalTrans website of trucks crashing into K-Rails.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015, 5:58 PM. A blue Mazda crashed into a huge Eucalyptus Tree on the Southbound 2 Freeway at the Corralitas end of the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
I heard the telltale screeching tires and what sounded like a rollover crash (you know you've lived next to a freeway for too long...), but could not see what happened from my house. Traffic slowed briefly, but continued on at high speeds within minutes.
Unaware of what was going on, 10 minutes later, I finally heard a siren and saw a very large LAFD ladder truck trying to make a left turn onto Corralitas. At which point, I grabbed my camera & walked down the hill. I saw no fire. The ladder truck eventually backed out onto Rosebud and then Allesandro, unable to make the turn. I did see at least a dozen neighbors coming down from the 2 Freeway from the other side of the fence. A compact LAFD Engine 220 was at the end of the Corralitas.
Neighbors reported trying to help the driver and they were afraid the car would catch fire as the car was smoking for quite a while. A couple of neighbors said it was a good 10 to 15 minutes from the time they called 911 to the time the first fire engine showed up.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015. By the time I got there it appeared emergency personnel were attending to one person on the ground. While I was there they helped a man get out of the car. He was able to walk away.
Neighbors also report there was debris, including a tire, strewn quite a ways into the Red Car Property. They tossed it all back over the fence.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015. Back in March, I witnessed another accident in the same place on the Southbound 2 Freeway. The driver lost control and ran into the tree on the right. Good thing those are some big healthy Eucalyptus. Perhaps it's time for some guardrails.
It's also lucky there was no fire. The Red Car Property has yet to be cleared of brush and CalTrans has an awful lot of dead branches in the freeway parkway.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 17, 2015. A car came to a noisy crunching stop at one of the big Eucalyptus trees part the way down the slope adjacent to the Corralitas Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
This morning, just as I was about to walk down to Corralitas from the Red Car Property when I heard a large crash, followed by screeching wheels as an out-of-control car blew through the loose dirt and debris in the slope below the southbound 2 Freeway. The car was moving so fast I fully expected it to fly between the eucalyptus trees & land on the Red Car Property. The dust was 25 feet in the air. I was grateful it wasn't a big rig truck.
When the dust cleared, the couple was able to walk away. They said they were OK. The male driver said he hit a big dip & his suspension was not good & he lost control. I think it could have been a lot worse. They called for a tow truck. No one driving by on the 2 Freeway bothered to stop & offer help.
I hung around for about 10 minutes as initially smoke was coming from under the rear of the car. There is a large accumulation of dead branches & debris on the slope, I wanted to make sure we weren't going to have a fire.
When you live above a freeway you do get used to the sound of crashing cars. You also know the sounds of bad crashes - this one sounded much worse than it was. Fire & injuries are of more concern with serious accidents like cars flipping over, cars on fire, sig alerts, brush fires and of course the tanker that blew up on the 2 & 5 Interchange & somehow sent a piece of hot debris through a neighbor's window (yep, really happened).
Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 31, 2010, 8:38AM. Northbound 2 Freeway just south of Rosebud Ave. overcrossing, as seen from the top of the Corralitas Public Staircase. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
