A man and woman are dead after their car slammed head-on into a tree along Burbank Boulevard near Balboa Boulevard in Encino early Friday, splitting the vehicle nearly in two. The crash happened around 2 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department, and left both occupants — who appeared to be in their 20s or 30s — dead at the scene. They were the only people in the car.
The solo-vehicle wreck destroyed a white car, which was left nearly sheared apart by the impact, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. No details have emerged yet about what led up to the crash. The station reports that the stretch of Burbank Boulevard near Balboa carries a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour, but residents say it's long been known for speeding and deadly wrecks.
A Resident Who's Lost Count
Frankie Andrew, who lives nearby, told the outlet he can hear crashes happen from inside his home. He estimated he's witnessed at least 16 crashes at that same spot over the years, and said they often end in fatalities or near-fatalities. His account echoes a pattern others in the area have long described about this particular stretch of road.
This is not the first time the intersection has drawn attention for violent collisions. On March 31, two LAPD officers and a 90-year-old driver were hospitalized after a chain-reaction crash at Burbank and Balboa boulevards, with an initial patrol car collision triggering a secondary impact, according to a Facebook post from local accident monitors. And in May 2019, a high-speed vehicle sheared in half after striking a tree along the same stretch of Burbank Boulevard between Balboa Boulevard and Woodley Avenue, killing both occupants, per CBS Los Angeles.
Why This Stretch Keeps Seeing Crashes
Local intersection analyses have identified Balboa and Burbank boulevards as one of Encino's most collision-prone locations this year, driven by high speeds, heavy commuter bypass traffic, and turning movements near the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, per Insider Accident Lawyers. The corridor absorbs heavy daily traffic cutting between the 101 and 405 freeways, and Burbank Boulevard's wide, multi-lane layout often encourages drivers to travel at freeway speeds during off-peak and late-night hours when traffic thins out.
The pattern isn't confined to this one block. A separate fatal single-vehicle crash occurred in June 2025 when a car collided head-on with a tree in the 17600 block of Victory Boulevard, which runs parallel to Burbank through the Sepulveda Basin, according to the Yaghmai Law Firm. Citywide, unsafe speed was cited as the primary factor in 40 percent of fatal single-vehicle collisions in Los Angeles between 2017 and 2021, per a Los Angeles Department of Transportation evaluation tied to its Speed Safety System Program.
Other Recent Fatal Crashes in Encino
Friday's deaths add to a string of fatal wrecks in the area this year. On September 12, a two-vehicle crash at Ventura Boulevard and Densmore Avenue in Encino left one person dead and five others hospitalized, Hoodline reported, after the collision knocked down a light pole and left an SUV on the sidewalk. In April, a predawn multi-vehicle crash on northbound Highway 101 near White Oak Avenue killed one driver and froze freeway traffic, requiring crews to use heavy lifting equipment to extract victims.
Traffic enforcement and fatal collision investigations on Encino surface streets fall under the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division, which oversees traffic safety across San Fernando Valley communities. In March, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved installing 125 automated speed enforcement cameras citywide under California's Assembly Bill 645 pilot program, allowing automated citations on designated high-injury corridors. Whether that effort, or additional traffic-calming measures, will extend to Burbank Boulevard remains to be seen.
