Woman Hit, Killed on Freeway

A Northridge woman was hit and fatally injured by a car on the northbound San Diego Freeway on Saturday night after she had a flat tire, stopped in a traffic lane and got out of her vehicle, investigators said.

The accident happened just after 8 p.m. at 7th Street between Seal Beach and Garden Grove, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said. The woman, whose identity had not been released late Sunday pending notification of relatives, was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Officials gave this account of the incident:

After the woman stopped her car, which had a flat front tire, another driver parked his car behind hers and turned on his car’s emergency blinkers. The woman then walked to the back of his car and tried to direct traffic around the two vehicles.

The driver of a third car, traveling about 55 miles an hour, swerved to avoid the woman but struck her and the second stopped car.

The driver who struck the woman will not be charged, police said.

CHP officials said Sunday that drivers of disabled vehicles should steer cautiously to the right shoulder.

“The last thing you want to do is stop in the traffic lane,” CHP Sgt. Dwight Howard said. “Other drivers won’t see you and will hit your vehicle. You don’t want to become a hazard out there.”

Howard said the freeway is especially dangerous because of the high speeds.

Even if it means damaging a wheel rim, he said, a driver should try to get to the shoulder.

“The cost of the rim is a lot less than your life.”