Newport’s ‘Dead Man’s curve’

Deepa Bharath

Those who have lived on Irvine Avenue near the S-curve know what it’s

like.

Screeching tires. Slamming brakes. Loud bangs.

The sounds tug at neighbors’ heart strings late at night or early

in the morning -- or sometimes, even in broad daylight.

Early Tuesday morning last week, Eric Burkhart heard that familiar

collage of sounds. As always, he and a few of his neighbors got out

of their homes to see who they needed to help out this time. But the

47-year-old driver of the car had slid down to the Back Bay bluffs

with her car and died instantly.

Burkhart said last week’s fatal crash was a sore reminder of the

scenic highway at their doorstep that springs a nasty surprise to

drivers who come barreling down the road at more than 50 miles an

hour.

“People are going at 70 plus miles an hour,” said Burkhart, who

has lived on Irvine Avenue for about four years. “You just never know

what’s going to happen. A lot of times, the cars slide into the guard

rail. Sometimes, they spin out and slide down the bluffs and a lot of

times, they hit our homes.”

Two houses down from Burkhart’s, a neighbor’s compound wall bares

a gaping hole from a rollover crash a day before the fatal crash.

“We fear for our lives, walking down the sidewalk here,” he said.

“What happens if a car loses control? It’s heading straight for the

pedestrian who’s walking on the side of the road.”

The fatal crash bothered Burkhart so much that he sent out a

letter to the city asking them to consider straightening out the

curve or that he may “have to pursue legal options.”

City Atty. Bob Burnham said engineers are looking into what the

city has done in the past to fix the problem on Irvine Avenue and

what can be done in the future. Straightening the road as Burkhart

wants it, is not going to be easy, he said.

“The city has considered that it in the past and staff had a lot

of concerns about that option,” Burnham said.

IN SEARCH OF A STRAIGHT SOLUTION

Problems included getting right of way from the county and

performing extensive environmental studies before doing anything with

the Back Bay wildlife preserve, he said.

“The other issue that came up was also that people would start

speeding even more if we straighten the road,” he said. “That would

give rise to potentially more serious crashes. Straightening that

curve is not as easy as it sounds.”

The perils of the S-curve were most talked about after a Chevy

Blazer with several Newport Harbor High students overturned at the

curve on May 23, 1997, killing 18-year-old Donny Bridgman and

seriously injuring two other teens Amanda Arthur and Daniel Townsend.

Donny’s mother, Vickie Bridgman, filed a lawsuit against the city

holding it responsible for the dangerous condition on Irvine Avenue,

but ended up dropping the lawsuit.

“The city needed to do something there and they did put in a light

at Santa Isabel Avenue that made things a lot better and slowed

people down before they hit the curve,” she said. “But it hasn’t done

enough to stop another life from being lost there.”

Bridgman said news of the fatal crash last week was “extremely

saddening” to her, more so because it happened barely a month before

what will be the sixth anniversary of the crash that took her son’s

life.

“And the fact that it happened on the exact same spot,” she said.

“I just relived a nightmare.”

Bridgman said the curve, by itself, is not a “tight, dangerous

curve.”

“It’s just unexpected because of where it’s located,” she said.

“We have sweeping, wide turns in the rest of our city, so no one

expects something like this. They should stop calling the S-curve,

because it’s Newport Beach’s very own Dead Man’s curve.”

ADDING ALCOHOL TO THE MIX

Frank Gustafson knows what Bridgman is talking about. He witnessed

the fateful crash that killed Donny.

“It’s true that people travel down the road at very high speeds,”

said Gustafson, who moved to Irvine Avenue in 1988. “But the road is

definitely a contributing factor in most accidents that happen here.”

The Newport Beach Police Department has done a great job trying to

catch people who leave bars before they get on the road, Gustafson

said.

“But speed limit is something that just cannot be enforced on this

road,” he said. “It’s almost impossible because when an officer is

waiting on Heather Lane with a radar gun the motorist suddenly spots

him and slams on his brake. That just causes more problems.”

Gustafson said his frustrations continue as he still finds himself

running out in the middle of the night, making 911 calls or handing

out towels to the injured to wipe down blood.

“But me and my family, we’ve gotten used to it,” he said. “Some of

these kids who get into accidents even come back with a box of candy

to thank us.”

Former resident Bud Jones said he knows of two people who flipped

their Porsches at the turn.

“Were they going fast? Yes,” he said. “But you go fast on PCH and

you don’t flip over there. That road has always been a problem and

the city should straighten it out.”

WORRIES EVERY DAY

The accidents seemed sad to Willard Reece, who has lived near the

S-curve for 26 years. But they also fascinated him. Over the years,

Reece took pictures of several accidents and rollovers that happened

in front of his home and collected more than 20 hub caps that went up

in the air like flying saucers before landing on the street.

“This has been going on since the ‘70s,” he said. “I’ve lost my

mailbox four different times. Luckily only two people died. That

number could’ve been higher given the number of accidents.”

Reece said the city has actually been “cooperative” with residents

and “helped a great deal.”

“The light on Santa Isabel really helped,” he said.

But Andrea Burkhart says that traffic light alone is not the

solution to this continuing problem.

“How many people have to die here before the city takes action?”

she asked. “Our two daughters have their bedroom facing the street.

And they’re often woken up by a car accident. We hardly get a good

night’s sleep.”

Eric Burkhart said the situation worries him so much that he is

considering putting his house up for sale.

“I don’t know how much longer I or my family can take it,” he

said. “I don’t want to see the day when a car comes racing down the

road and takes out a family walking by the side of the street.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].