Fatal Crash Prompts Study of Sepulveda Boulevard Safety

Following a collision that killed three people on Sepulveda Boulevard south of Sherman Oaks, city officials said Friday they will conduct an investigation to make the curvy stretch of road safer.

The city Department of Transportation will study all reported accidents on Sepulveda between Skirball Center Drive and Getty Center Drive over the past five years, said Mohammad Blorfroshan, transportation engineer at the department’s western district office.

“We will see if there is a pattern of accidents and if we can modify the situation,” Blorfroshan said. “We will see where we can recommend raised medians.”

High speed and driver inattention may have been factors that caused Thursday’s accident, according to Lt. Douglas Miller in the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division.

Maximiliano Ramos, 46, of North Hills, was heading north in a Suzuki Swift on Sepulveda Boulevard when for reasons unknown he crossed the double yellow lines and struck a southbound Toyota pickup.

Ramos and two others riding with him were killed: Carlos Geovany Meda, 28, and Alberto Martinez Garcia, 27, both of Panorama City. Two passengers in the Suzuki were injured: Ramos’ son, Carlos Ramos, 22, who suffered fractured ribs and is listed in stable condition at UCLA Medical Center; and Orlando Corleto, 26, of Van Nuys, who suffered lacerations and is in stable condition at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center.

Ryan Craig, 25, of Los Angeles, who was alone in the pickup, suffered facial cuts and is also at County/USC Medical Center in stable condition.

All five men in the Suzuki were headed home from work at a Bel-Air landscaping company when the accident occurred, authorities said.

There is no raised median on Sepulveda south of Skirball Center, where the fatal accident occurred. Officials will consider installing medians on curves throughout this stretch of the road, Blorfroshan said. If the accident site is too narrow for a median, the city may install other safety devices, he said, such as raised barriers made of concrete and steel or flexible plastic sticks to better delineate the separation between opposing traffic lanes.

Re-striping the road and adding warning signs are other options, officials said. Much of the portion of Sepulveda is striped for four lanes, and officials don’t want to reduce the road to two lanes to allow space for a median, Blorfroshan said.

In 1996, following a request by the Fire Department, the city installed a guardrail and warning signs on the west side of Sepulveda, south of Skirball Center, where there is a sharp curve.

The city frequently gets complaints of motorists speeding on Sepulveda, which is commonly used as an alternate to the congested San Diego Freeway, Blorfroshan said. The area of the accident is a 35-mph zone.

“The road was designed for a certain speed limit. If you exceed that you’ll lose control,” he said.

Two people were killed in an accident in that area last year, police said. There were 14 reported accidents of vehicles running off the road there between 1988 and 1993, Blorfroshan said.