The Antelope Valley Times

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VIDEO: 17 injured in 19-vehicle freeway pile up

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ANTELOPE VALLEY – Lancaster resident Fred Jackson, 50, was among the injured drivers taken to Antelope Valley Hospital after a 19-vehicle pileup on the Antelope Valley Freeway Tuesday morning, according to a California Highway Patrol report.

The incident happened around 9:40 a.m. on SR-14 (Antelope Valley Freeway), just south of Escondido Canyon Road.

A CHP motor officer stopped all southbound traffic to remove a traffic hazard and was removing debris from the roadway when the collision occurred.

Darwin Martinez, 25, was driving a big-rig truck southbound in the No. 3 lane at an unsafe speed for conditions when he failed to avoid stopped traffic, the CHP report states.

The initial impact resulted in a chain reaction collision involving 19 vehicles; 17 individuals sustained injuries, the report states.

Victims that required further evaluation were transported to local hospitals.

All lanes of southbound SR-14 at the location were closed for approximately four and a half hours, according to the CHP report.

View video of the vehicle pile-up above, courtesy of NBC Los Angeles.

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12 comments for "VIDEO: 17 injured in 19-vehicle freeway pile up"

  1. Not being alert as to what’s up ahead on the road and suffering from “highway hypnosis” are some of the driver behaviors I observed while driving this very stretch of freeway this week. Chains of cars tailgating are also becoming more common than previously. Just a heads up to those who don’t take the Antelope Valley Freeway for a drive lately.

    My driver training courses during my commercial driving days included this advice: LEAVE YOURSELF AN OUT. Heeding this advice would have provided for room for error on the part of the commercial truck driver.

    CHP does indeed need to, from time to time, close off a lane of traffic – or even ALL lanes of traffic – to remove road debris that would cause accidents. Let’s be aware of this need and drive in a safe manner out there, allowing for these safety hazards to be removed as needed by the CHP officers. We don’t own the road. . . we are merely travelers on it. Please be safe out there.

    • If you are in the fast lane and leave a few car lengths in front of you, invariably, the guy behind you will pass on the right, get right up behind the car/truck in the right lane and cut in front of you without signaling or signaling AS he cuts in front of you. It’s insane.

      I suspect that people who lane change to move up the ‘ladder’ actually slow down the overall flow of traffic and should be hanged at sunrise. It’s analogous to crabs trying to climb out of a big pot, shoving other crabs back down.

      • Understood. Nevertheless, despite what other drivers do, your task as a driver on the public roads is to keep a cool head about you and *continually* allow for the proper car length distance for the vehicle ahead of you. Better yet, pull over to another lane where safe to do so and let them “own” that number one “fast” lane.

        Same thing with speed. Regardless of what other drivers do, your task as a driver is to keep within the proper speed.

        Don’t let THEM con or bully YOU into unsafe and perilous. . . and ultimately illegal driving practices. Be resolute, and stay safe out there! (smile) The neck you save may be your own.

        • Oh, I do. It’s just something I observed when I commuted years ago to the Valley at 5 AM. We were going 70, bumper to bumper and if you left a car length in front of you, some a**hole would do what I described.

          There would usually be a very old pickup in the right lane going 50-55, so people would go around. I figured the driver was either stoned or had already been ticketed a few times for speeding and was being overly careful.

    • You would blame a police officer doing his job. how about the driver that was not paying attention…..your such an idiot!!

      • Yeah, for stopping traffic on a blind curve downhill. There’s a looooooong straightaway about a mile before that. CHP should’ve stopped traffic there, not on a downhill blind curve. Just because they have a car with neat lights on it, and carry a gun doesn’t mean it was a bright move. They caused this accident, and are lucky no one was killed. Well, now we know how Ms. Cyndi thinks when she’s drivin down the road. Who’s the idiot now, Ma’am.

        • What concrete evidence do you have to blame the CHP. Were you there at the time it happened?
          Were you involved in the accident?
          Watch the news and get all the facts first then you tell the public how it was.
          There is no merits they way you purportedly alleged above.

          • @yo mama. It seems like we have another ignorant dumbass blaming it on CHP. You have to be straight out stupid. When chp is breaking lane he is doing it from far away. He doesnt do it around the corner when the problem or issue is at.