A 24-year-old La Puente woman died Wednesday Feb. 5 in a four-car crash on the southbound 605 freeway in Norwalk.
Just south of Rosecrans Avenue, Alyssa Contreras crossed from the slow lane to the fast lane and slammed into the concrete center divider. Her Toyota Corolla came to rest back in the traffic lanes during the 3:45 a.m. accident, according to news reports. A Dodge Ram and a Honda Accord then struck Contreras’ vehicle. The Corolla landed on its roof and a Chrysler PT Cruiser subsequently struck the vehicle.
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Contreras died at the scene.
Paramedics took two to the hospital — the driver of the Accord, Jose Estrada, 42, of Pico Rivera, suffered major injuries, and the Dodge driver, Fontana resident Jonathan Villalpando, 28, suffered minor to major injuries.
The Chrysler driver, Milton Marquardt, 46, of Ontario, did not sustain injuries.
The crash caused a lengthy backup for several hours with all southbound lanes closed until about 7:30 a.m. when two lanes of traffic reopened. Authorities reopened the remaining lanes an hour later.
The crash is still under investigation, but police believe speed could have played a factor, according to news reports. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that the cost of speeding-related car crashed is about $40 billion each year. It is a major contributing statistic in all fatal car accidents. In 2017, 37,133 people died in 34,247 crashes. Of those, the NHTSA states that speeding drivers played a part in 17 percent of the accidents. Twenty-six percent of the deaths in the car crashes involved a speeding driver.