A man died and two women were injured late Saturday when a vehicle exiting a shopping center collided with another car traveling westbound on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach, according to police. The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. in the 5700 block of Pacific Coast Highway near Bellflower Boulevard, in the city's Alamitos Heights community.
According to the Long Beach Police Department, the vehicle heading westbound on Pacific Coast Highway struck another vehicle as it exited a shopping center, as first reported by MyNewsLA.com. Fire personnel responded to the scene and transported a male adult to a local hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Paramedics also took two women to a hospital; their conditions were not immediately clear, per authorities.
A Corridor Already Known for Danger
The stretch of Pacific Coast Highway where the crash occurred falls under California Vehicle Code Section 21804, which requires drivers entering or crossing a highway from a private driveway, alley, or parking lot to yield to approaching traffic close enough to pose an immediate hazard, per the California State Legislature. It remains unclear whether a right-of-way failure, speed, or another factor contributed to Saturday's collision, and that determination will fall to investigators.
The nearby intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Bellflower Boulevard has long been a trouble spot. Long Beach traffic engineering records reviewed by The May Firm show the intersection averages roughly 31 vehicle collisions a year, and the area was the site of a previous fatal single-vehicle crash in March 2020, according to Long Beach Local News. Citywide, Pacific Coast Highway accounts for less than 1% of Long Beach's roadway miles but nearly 20% of its traffic deaths near schools, business corridors, and housing areas, based on city data released this month.
Long Beach's Deadliest Year for Traffic on Record
Saturday's crash comes amid what city officials and outside reporting describe as a worsening traffic safety crisis. Long Beach recorded 53 fatal traffic collisions in 2025, its highest annual toll in more than a decade, according to LAist. That same year, 32 pedestrians, bicyclists, and e-scooter riders were killed on city streets, a number that exceeded the city's 29 homicides in 2025, the outlet reported.
The numbers stand in tension with the city's own goals. Long Beach adopted its Safe Streets Long Beach Action Plan in July 2020 under a Vision Zero framework, setting an official target of eliminating all traffic deaths and severe injuries citywide by 2026, according to the city's Department of Public Works. This month, the city moved to bolster that effort by establishing a dedicated Traffic Safety Division within its Public Works Department under the FY27 budget, aimed at speeding up road engineering and traffic-calming work along its High Injury Network corridors.
Speed Cameras Coming to PCH
State lawmakers have also weighed in. California legislation passed in June authorized Long Beach to install automated speed safety cameras along an 8.5-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway as part of a targeted enforcement pilot program, according to the Assembly Transportation Committee. PCH was specifically chosen for the cameras because of its high collision frequency.
Saturday's crash is the latest in a string of deadly incidents along the corridor. In April, a 54-year-old Long Beach resident was killed when her vehicle was struck from behind on Pacific Coast Highway near Huntington Beach and pushed into the Bolsa Chica wetlands, as Hoodline previously reported. The identities of the man killed Saturday and the two injured women have not been released, and the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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