State transportation officials are looking into a series of fatalities on the newly reopened Angeles Crest Highway 2.
Four motorists were killed—two on the same day—just after CalTrans re-opened the freeway in June after a multi-year storm damage repair job was completed.
The California Department of Transportation is awaiting the accident reports from the California Highway Patrol to determine if the accidents were a problem with the roadway or the driver, according to Kelly Markham, Public Information Office for Caltrans District 7.
Following that, as part of Caltrans procedure, they will consider other accident data that has been compiled to see if safety improvements should be made, Markham said.
In June, a Pasadena resident slammed his car into an embankment on Angeles Crest Highway, before crashing into a tree. He was found dead at the crash site, south of Dark Canyon Truck Trail near La Canada Flintridge.
The second crash occurred on the Angeles Crest Highway two miles east of Gizzly Flat Road. The CHP reported a 48-year-old Monterey Park man abruptly turned his car to the left and swerved off the highway, tumbling approximately 500 feet down the mountainside. He died at the scene.
A third motorist was killed June 21 while riding his motorcycle near Cloudburst Summit. The Fontana man was riding at a high rate of speed an failed to properly negotiate a left curve and ran off the roadway, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department told Patch.com.
The bike flipped, the man was ejected, and both he and the bike fell down a steep embankment. Officials pronounced him dead at the scene.
