Crash Halts Rush-Hour Traffic on Interstate 405

Traffic on the San Diego Freeway ground to a halt during the evening rush hour Tuesday after a 30-year-old Westminster man’s van crashed into a disabled station wagon on the roadway shoulder near Golden West Street, authorities said.

The man was airlifted by a U.S. Marine helicopter medic unit to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, where he was reported in serious condition with head injuries. His name was withheld pending notification of relatives.

The parked vehicle was unoccupied at the time of the 3:55 p.m. collision, Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Dougherty said.

According to witnesses, Dougherty said, a man driving an older model Ford van entered the northbound San Diego Freeway at Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach and “began driving erratically.”

The van swerved and drove at about 50 m.p.h. along the right shoulder of the freeway for about 100 feet before re-entering the slow lane of traffic, witnesses told investigators. The van went off onto the right shoulder a second time and struck the station wagon, Dougherty said.

The unconscious driver of the van was pulled from the wreckage and taken aboard the Marine aircraft, the only one available in the county at that moment, Dougherty said.

Traffic, which had been halted in both directions for the helicopter rescue, continued sluggish throughout the evening, and at one point was backed up to the Long Beach and Costa Mesa freeways, Dougherty said.