Driver’s Death Blamed on Rain, Bald Tires

Rain-slick pavement and bald tires were partly to blame for the death Monday of a 24-year-old Glendale motorist whose car skidded off the southbound on-ramp to the Glendale Freeway at Mountain Street and plunged down a 50-foot embankment onto the freeway.

The motorist was “traveling too fast for the weather conditions” and missed by inches a guard rail that would have blocked the skidding vehicle, said California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Tami Low. “If he had hit the rail, he would have stayed on the ramp and probably been alive,” Low said.

The motorist, who was alone, was traveling east on Mountain when the car skidded as he turned right onto the ramp. The vehicle overturned twice down the embankment before landing on its wheels on the freeway. CHP officers said all four tires on the 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix were bald.

The driver, whose name was being withheld pending notification of relatives, was pronounced dead at the scene. No other vehicles were involved. Two lanes of the freeway were closed for two hours after the 11 a.m. accident.