2 Killed, 2 Hurt in Simi Freeway 4-Vehicle Crash : Accidents: The collision occurs at the location in Chatsworth of a January pileup that left 3 dead. A safety barrier is planned at the site.

Two people were killed and two others were injured Thursday in a fiery crash on the Simi Valley Freeway in Chatsworth when a car slid through a dirt median and into oncoming traffic, the California Highway Patrol said.

The four-vehicle accident occurred about 2:15 p.m. when a sedan traveling west on the freeway rear-ended a station wagon and then crossed the 54-foot-wide median and collided with two cars on the eastbound side of the freeway, before bursting into flames near the Tampa Avenue exit, Officer Jayne Bartholme said.

The accident took place at the site of another cross-median crash Jan. 31 that left three people dead and four injured.

Following the crash in January, state transportation officials ordered a temporary barrier installed by the end of the year along a five-mile stretch between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the Simi Valley Freeway, from Balboa Boulevard to De Soto Avenue.

The $476,000 contract to build the temporary divider was awarded Sept. 11 to Modern Alloys, based in Stanton, Calif., said Jerry Baxter, Caltrans district director.

Construction is scheduled to begin within three weeks and is expected to be completed by July.

“I feel pretty bad,” Baxter said. “If I had known this was going to happen today then we probably would have done something to have that median divider put in by today, but we can’t predict when accidents are going to happen.”

A permanent barrier is scheduled for construction in 1994 as part of a $39.4-million project to widen the freeway and add car pool lanes, Baxter said.

“I think we did the right thing by deciding to put the barrier in ahead of time,” Baxter said. “I just hope we can get the median barrier in before we have another accident like this,” he said.

Those killed in Thursday’s accident included the driver of the sedan, a 58-year-old Santa Clarita man, and the driver of a car he collided with, a 26-year-old Nevada resident, Bartholme said. Both men were wearing seat belts.

A woman and her 4-year-old daughter in another car struck by the sedan were also injured, Bartholme said. The victims were not identified pending notification of relatives.

Witnesses told authorities that they saw the driver of what appeared to be a 1988 Chrysler sedan nodding off and falling asleep at the wheel as he drove west on the Simi Valley Freeway, Bartholme said.

The sedan rear-ended a Honda station wagon and then crossed the median into eastbound traffic, where it was struck broadside by a Honda Accord with Nevada license plates, Bartholme said.

The sedan then struck a white Geo Storm carrying a woman and her daughter, Bartholme said. She said the Geo came to rest about 100 yards east of the crash. The woman and child, who were not seriously injured, were treated at Granada Hills Community Hospital and released.

The sedan then traveled backward up the east embankment before bursting into flames, Bartholme said. The driver was ejected and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lawrence Kuznets and his sister, Renee, both of Santa Clarita, were about to exit on Tampa Avenue when their station wagon was rear-ended by the sedan.

Lawrence Kuznets said he was driving at the speed limit when the Chrysler came up quickly from behind and hit his car. He said that just before the collision the sedan nearly sideswiped another car traveling west on the freeway.

“In a sense it was a terrible tragedy, but in a sense it was lucky that it wasn’t a lot worse,” Kuznets said. “It really could have been a lot worse.”

The eastbound Simi Valley Freeway was closed at the Tampa Avenue exit until 4:30 p.m., causing a traffic jam, Bartholme said. The westbound lanes remained open, but were slowed because of onlookers.

The lack of a barrier along the stretch of the Simi Valley Freeway concerned public officials, including Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), who had earlier offered to lobby the California Transportation Commission to pay for the barrier.

Between June, 1986, and June, 1989, Caltrans officials reported 28 cross-median accidents, including four fatalities on an 18.5-mile stretch of the freeway, according to information received by Davis’ office.

The five-vehicle accident on Jan. 31 occurred when a large truck collided with a car on the westbound side of the freeway, sparking a chain-reaction pileup when the car crossed the median into oncoming traffic, witnesses and investigators said.