After Drive-In Crash : Caltrans May Wall Off Office

Sherman Oaks office workers who claim they are afraid to sit at their desks because freeway drivers keep crashing into their building may soon get some protection.

State Department of Transportation officials say they hope to install a safety barrier, if one can be squeezed between an eastbound Ventura Freeway off-ramp and a three-story office building at 4717 Van Nuys Blvd.

An escrow company worker was hospitalized last week when a car smashed into the building and knocked her across her office. Workers said the crash was similar to a 1985 accident in which an auto slammed into another room in the building.

Fear of Returning

“Something’s got to be done,” said Lenore Sherman, an assistant escrow office manager who is at home recovering from the Aug. 4 crash. “It’s scary even thinking about sitting in that room again.”

Sherman suffered cuts and bruises when a car driven by an elderly Sherman Oaks man rammed a chain-link fence and crashed into her office. Forbes West, the motorist, apparently had a fatal heart attack, authorities said.

A hit-and-run driver was blamed for the 1985 crash, said Mary Lou Green, senior vice president of a realty firm that occupies part of the building. Green’s office was wrecked in that incident.

“I don’t want to sit at my desk. Nobody on this side of the building does,” said Green.

Escrow officer Ruth Lawson said workers are now doubling up in interior rooms and using hallways to avoid the freeway side of the building. The wall to her own interior office was cracked and buckled by furniture that smashed into it in last week’s crash.

Explosive Entry

“It was like a bomb went off. I thought the building was falling in,” Lawson said. “I certainly wouldn’t work in one of those offices.”

The crash caused about $50,000 damage to the 4-year-old building, owned by veteran San Fernando Valley realtors Ira Gribin and Lou Von Dyl.

“The state said the last time that there weren’t enough accidents, that there wasn’t a significant number,” Gribin said. “I don’t know what the hell I can do. I don’t think they’ll let me build a safety wall on Caltrans property. A chain-link fence like they have now isn’t going to do it.”

Caltrans engineer David Kilmurray said Tuesday that he will send investigators to the ramp to determine whether there is room to install a concrete barrier, a block wall or a safety railing.

Space Is Tight

“I’ve looked at the aerial photos of the site and it’s a little tight in there,” Kilmurray said. “It appears the building is right there on the right-of-way line. There’s a fence, a sidewalk and the building. They were trying to maximize their space.

“It could be pretty difficult to do something without reducing the size of the sidewalk or the width of the off-ramp traffic lanes.”

Kilmurray described the building crashes as “a rare occurence.” He said accident statistics for the ramp show only a handful of collisions in the past four years and those were “basically rear-ender accidents.”