‘Death Alley’ Traffic Lights to Blink Red

Existing traffic lights on a treacherous stretch of Lampson Avenue in Seal Beach will be adjusted to flash red continuously from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. every night, a step ordered by the City Council after two fatal crashes there.

Seal Beach Police Chief Bill Stearns said the stretch, Lampson Avenue from Heather Street to Candleberry Avenue, will also be posted with lighted or reflectorized signs setting the speed limit at 35 m.p.h.

In the past three weeks, two men have died on that curve, known as “the alley of death.”

Louis Henry Vasquez, 19, of Norwalk died Sunday when his Jeep struck two power poles and overturned. Michael Clines, 19, of Seal Beach was killed Aug. 23 when his car struck and sheared off two of the trees that divide Lampson Avenue.

Police estimated Clines’ speed at 85 m.p.h.

The accidents brought renewed calls from residents of an adjacent residential tract for a reduced speed limit along that stretch, and for reinforcement of the wall that separates their homes from the avenue.

“If we can’t stop the people from speeding, then we have to protect the residents,” Patty Campbell told the Seal Beach City Council Monday night.

Campbell said she is sometimes awakened by jolts caused by buses or trucks speeding along Lampson Avenue past her home. Some cars have crashed through the wall along the avenue, she added.

Stearns said that most accidents in the area have involved speeds in excess of 65 m.p.h., and usually have occurred during late-night or early-morning hours. The police chief said that some drivers try to see “how fast they can take the curve and survive.”

The council ordered that the traffic lights begin blinking red, effective immediately.