Karen S. Kim
Drivers traveling through Glendale received little reprieve from
flashing brake lights and gridlock Wednesday morning, as traffic
accident after traffic accident jammed the Ventura (134) Freeway.
The California Highway Patrol's Altadena division responded to at
least four accidents between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Glendale area.
The first call to the CHP came at 7:30 a.m. when a Toyota Corolla
slammed into a Chevrolet pickup truck in the carpool lane near the
Cahuenga Boulevard exit of the freeway.
The pickup truck had stopped short to avoid hitting another
vehicle that had stopped to avoid hitting a rubber trash can in the
lane, officials said.
"Three cars decided to stop for it, rather than hit it, and the
last car in line couldn't stop in time," CHP Motor Officer Mike
Clarke said. "The guy locked it up and started skidding. He hit the
wall first and immediately hit the left rear and left side of the
pickup truck."
Both cars' drivers and passengers were taken to Providence St.
Joseph Medical Center in Burbank with minor injuries. The passenger
of the truck had the most serious injuries, with a cut lip, cheek and
eyebrow, Clarke said.
The accident, which blocked the left lanes of the freeway for 50
minutes, caused bumper-to-bumper traffic as far west as Calabasas,
according to news reports.
Some drivers were less than sympathetic to the cause.
"We've got people laying on the freeway bleeding while they're
getting bandaged up, and drivers are going by yelling 'Clear the
[expletive] lane,'" Clarke said.
Drivers on the westbound side of the freeway were not spared from
traffic jams either. A five-car accident just east of the L.A. River
near San Fernando Road at 7:50 a.m. backed up the freeway to the
Foothill (210) Freeway, according to news reports.
One car slammed into the car ahead of it when it stopped short to
avoid slowing traffic, CHP Officer Matt Chin said. The accident
blocked the middle two lanes of the freeway until 9 a.m.
An unknown number of passengers were taken to Kaiser Permanente
hospital in Los Angeles, said Bob Collis, spokesman for Los Angeles
Fire Department.
Nearly four hours later, a small brush fire on the side of the
eastbound 134 just east of the Glendale (2) Freeway caused at least
two more accidents.
"It was a result of the traffic backup with the [L.A.] fire
equipment partially blocking the [right] lane," Clarke said, adding
that there were no injuries.
"One car swerved into the carpool lane and hit someone, and a car
and an 18-wheeler crashed while merging."
The fire burned one-quarter acre of brush and was extinguished
after 47 minutes, Collis said. The cause of the fire is still under
investigation.
