Sunday morning drivers on the southbound Harbor (110) Freeway near West Slauson Avenue were confronted with a nightmare scenario: a wrong-way car barreling toward them. The crash that followed left one person dead at the scene and another rushed to a nearby hospital, authorities said. The collision was reported at about 10:15 a.m.
What officials reported
According to MyNewsLA, which cited the California Highway Patrol, a silver Honda Civic was traveling north in the southbound lanes of the Harbor (110) Freeway when it slammed into a gray Nissan Murano near the West Slauson Avenue area.
The CHP diverted all southbound traffic off at Vernon Avenue at about 10:24 a.m., and a Sigalert followed at 10:53 a.m., closing all southbound lanes just south of Vernon, MyNewsLA reported. The condition of the injured person was not immediately available.
Slauson and regional safety work
In the background of this latest tragedy is ongoing work to shore up freeway infrastructure and safety in the area. Per Caltrans, the Slauson Avenue overcrossing is slated for bridge rehabilitation in the district's project tables.
The same district listings also point to other efforts that include wrong-way driving diversion features and rumble strips, part of a broader regional push to use engineering fixes to cut down on dangerous and often deadly freeway entries.
Why wrong-way crashes are especially dangerous
According to the National Academies, wrong-way freeway collisions tend to involve head-on impacts at high speeds and are disproportionately deadly, contributing to several hundred deaths nationwide each year.
The Academies and related federal guidance call for a mix of strategies to prevent and quickly respond to these incidents, including engineering, education and enforcement, such as clearer ramp markings and detection systems that can flag a driver who has entered a freeway in the wrong direction.
Investigation ongoing
The CHP is still piecing together exactly how the wrong-way entry happened and has not released the names of those involved, MyNewsLA reported.
Officials have not yet said whether impairment, excessive speed or any other specific factors are suspected in the crash.
