Head-On Collision That Killed 3 Prompts Safety Investigation

Following a collision that killed three people on Sepulveda Boulevard in Brentwood, city officials said Friday that they will investigate ways to make the curvy stretch of road safer.

The city Department of Transportation will study all reported accidents in the last five years on Sepulveda between Skirball Center Drive and Getty Center Drive, said Mohammad Blorfroshan, transportation engineer.

“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 in Thursday’s accident, according to Lt. Douglas Miller of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division. There was no indication that alcohol was involved, police said.

Maximiliano Ramos, 46, of North Hills was driving north on Sepulveda when, for unknown reasons, he crossed the double yellow lines and struck a pickup truck heading south.

Ramos was killed, as were two people riding with him: Carlos Geovany Meda, 28, and Alberto Martinez Garcia, 27, both of Panorama City. Two passengers in the car were injured: Ramos’ son Carlos, 22, who suffered fractured ribs and was in stable condition at UCLA Medical Center, and Orlando Corleto, 26, of Van Nuys, who had cuts and was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center.

Ryan Craig, 25, of Los Angeles, who was alone in the pickup, suffered facial cuts and was at County-USC in stable condition.

All five men in the subcompact car were going home from work at a Bel-Air landscaping company, authorities said.

There is no divider on Sepulveda south of Skirball Center where the accident occurred. Officials will consider installing dividers on curves throughout this stretch of the road, Blorfroshan said. If the accident site is too narrow for a divider, 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.

Restriping and more warning signs are other options. Much of this portion of Sepulveda is four lanes, and officials don’t want to reduce the road to two lanes to make space for a divider, Blorfroshan said.

In 1996, after a request by the city 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 that motorists speed on Sepulveda, which is often used as an alternate to the congested San Diego Freeway, Blorfroshan said. The area where the accident occurred is a 35-mph zone.

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

An accident in that area killed two people last year, police said. There were 14 reported cases of vehicles’ running off the road there from 1988 to 1993, Blorfroshan said.