A man died early Sunday after being struck by a car on the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway just north of Alameda Avenue in Burbank, and California Highway Patrol officers kept lanes shut down for nearly four hours while they worked the scene. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation into the crash is underway.
According to Pacific Attorney Group, the crash happened around 12:45 a.m. Sunday. CHP officers who responded had all roadway lanes cleared by 4:38 a.m., according to MyNewsLA.com, which reported on the operational timeline of the closure. Fatal freeway collisions typically require multi-hour closures so CHP can carry out collision reconstruction work, the outlet noted.
It remains unclear why the man was on the freeway in the first place. Walking along interstate lanes is generally unlawful in California under Vehicle Code Section 21960, which allows Caltrans and local authorities to bar pedestrians and non-motorized traffic from freeways, with a narrow exception for drivers or passengers walking to the nearest exit after their vehicle becomes disabled, per the Dolan Law Firm. Investigators have not said whether the man was a stranded motorist, and whether speed or impairment played a role on the driver's part has also not been addressed.
A Dangerous Stretch of Freeway
This is not the first serious overnight crash at this Burbank interchange. In October 2025, a fatal multi-vehicle crash struck at the same Interstate 5 and Alameda Avenue interchange around 3:45 a.m., when an alleged intoxicated wrong-way driver hit oncoming traffic, according to Patch. Back in May 2022, a major multi-vehicle crash on southbound I-5 just north of Alameda Avenue triggered a CHP Sigalert and sent as many as nine people to the hospital, as reported by CBS News Los Angeles.
The corridor carries an extraordinary amount of traffic. Caltrans data shows I-5 at the Alameda Avenue interchange in Burbank handles more than 230,000 vehicles daily, making it one of the busiest freeway segments in the San Fernando Valley. A local traffic safety summary from legal researchers at USAttorneys.com identified this same stretch, near Alameda Avenue and Burbank Boulevard, as a collision hotspot shaped by the convergence of commercial trucking and high-speed commuter traffic.
Nighttime Pedestrian Deaths Remain Stubbornly High
Sunday's crash lands within a grim national and statewide pattern. Preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association found that drivers struck and killed 7,148 pedestrians nationwide in 2024, a 4.3% drop from 2023 but still nearly 20% higher than in 2016. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures for the same year show that 76% of pedestrian fatalities occurred in dark conditions, and 73% happened at non-intersection locations such as open roadways and freeways.
California mirrors that trend closely. The state averages roughly three pedestrian traffic fatalities per day, with more than 75% occurring at night or in low-light conditions, according to UC Berkeley's SafeTREC program. Statewide crash data compiled by California traffic safety researchers shows 1,106 pedestrians were killed on California roads in 2023, an 8.8% decline from the 1,213 deaths recorded in 2022.
Burbank's stretch of I-5 has seen a string of fatal incidents this year alone. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal e-motorcycle crash at Alameda Avenue and Hollywood Way in July, a pre-dawn medical emergency that turned fatal on I-5 near Buena Vista Street in June, a multi-lane collision on northbound I-5 near Burbank Boulevard in April, and a fatal crash on the I-5 Empire Avenue off-ramp back in March.
No further details about the man's identity, the driver involved, or the cause of the crash have been released as the investigation continues.
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