Head-on Collision Closes PCH Tuesday

A head-on collision at 6:30 a.m. on Pacific Coast Highway occurred Tuesday morning, July 19, leaving two people in critical condition and a third with less serious injuries. A Ford F150 headed southbound on PCH, just before Chautauqua, was hit head-on by a northbound red Toyota Celica. It appeared to investigators that the driver of the Celica had fallen asleep at the wheel and when the car hit the pylons which divide the road before the Channel/ Chautauqua intersection, jerked awake, turning his car to the right. When the driver realized he had turned too far to the right, he then overcompensated by jerking the car to left bringing it directly into the path of the truck. PCH between Chautauqua and Temescal Canyon was closed for almost four hours while the investigation was conducted.. According to Captain William Alderson, LAFD Station 69 received a dispatch at 6:33 a.m. and were on the scene by 6:37. The two people in the red Toyota Celica were extricated through the roof of the car with the Jaws of Life. All three people involved in the crash were transported to local hospitals: Santa Monica/UCLA Hospital and UCLA Medical Center Trauma Unit. The total time from the moment they arrived on scene until the driver went into the operating room was 25 minutes. “The top half of the car was crushed,” A LAPD West Traffic Officer investigating the scene reported. “It doesn’t look like either of the two in the Toyota will survive.” The two people in the Celica had head trauma and crushed pelvises, and were still in critical condition at press time. The condition of the truck driver was unknown.