A SigAlert was issued on the 5 Freeway in the Pyramid Lake area Wednesday night after a crash killed two people and left two others injured, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The collision occurred on the northbound 5 just south of Vista Del Lago Road around 8:35 p.m., according to CHP’s incident log.
Officers were dispatched to the location after receiving a report of a crash with people trapped, CHP Supervisor Martin Rangel said.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Rangel.
Two trauma patients were transported to a nearby hospital, Rangel said. Their conditions were not immediately known.
A SigAlert was in effect for the closure of the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 northbound lanes, CHP Officer Kimble said.
Southbound lanes remained open and were not impacted.
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A 72-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, both who were passengers in a truck, were killed Wednesday in a two-vehicle crash on the northbound 5 Freeway near Pyramid Lake.
Ed Winter, of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, said both identities were not being released pending next of kin.
The California Highway Patrol said the 72-year-old man was from Lamont while the 19-year-old woman was from Tulare in the Santa Clarita Valley crash.
The crash was reported at 8:35 p.m. on the freeway, which is south of the Vista Del Lago off-ramp, the CHP said.
A 2012 Toyota Tundra drove northbound on the 5 Freeway and approached a 2012 Peterbilt big rig, which had become disabled in the No. 2 lane, the CHP said.
As the Toyota attempted to swerve to avoid the Peterbilt truck, the front wheel of the Tundra crashed into the rear left of the big rig, the CHP explained.
After the crash, the CHP said, Los Angeles County Fire Department first-responders performed life-saving measures to the front and rear right side passengers of the truck, but both died on scene.
The Toyota’s driver and left rear passenger sustained moderate to major injuries and were transported to Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital in Valencia, the CHP noted.
Alcohol and drugs do not appear to be factors in the crash, the CHP said.
A SigAlert was issued in the No. 1, 2 and 3 lanes for the northbound 5 freeway. The alert was cancelled at 4:10 a.m. Thursday.
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http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2015/03/united-states-still-has-one-of-highest.html
UNITED STATES STILL HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES IN THE WORLD: 34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.
Despite the improvements in vehicle and road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people.
Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.
Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV, despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty percent more people die compared to the national death rate.
Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each year. In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.
However, the number of injured is rising, as "safer" vehicles (the SUVs) minimize the number of dead. Roughly 2.5 million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year. That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive is injured every year. Over a lifetime of 75 years, almost the entire population could be injured or died in a crash crash.
It is worse than a war zone out there. So, please be safe and be on the lookout for weaving-through-the-traffic drivers, crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers, talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers, tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers, putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, elderly drivers, and so on.