Dead Man's Curve#California

{{short description|Curve in a road that has claimed lives because of numerous crashes}}

File:Dead-Man's Curve in Lebec, California, 2010.jpg in Lebec, California, abandoned when US 99 (later upgraded to I-5) was constructed over the Tejon Pass in order to make travel straighter and safer.]]

File:Deadman's Curve on Old Route 66, Tijeras Canyon NM.jpg]]

File:Deadmans.JPG, Ohio]]

Dead Man's Curve is an American nickname for a curve in a road that has claimed many lives because of numerous crashes.{{cite book |last= Allen |first= Irving Lewis |title= The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 1995 |location= New York |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=j41z0yeKbeIC&pg=PA89 |isbn= 0-19-509265-1 |quote= A bend in any road that has a history of vehicular accidents always seems to be called Dead Man's Curve. |via= Google Books }}{{cite news |last= Algar |first= Selim |title= Police: 4 Killed in Gruesome Long Island Accident: Driver Only Had Learner's Permit |work= New York Post |date= October 8, 2012 |url= https://nypost.com/2012/10/08/police-4-killed-in-gruesome-long-island-accident-driver-only-had-learners-permit/ |access-date= August 8, 2015 |quote= The site is so frequently the scene of horrific accidents, first responders call it 'Dead Man’s Curve'.}}

Examples

A curve on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles memorialized in the hit song "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean. The song's lyrics place the location of the "Dead Man's Curve" accident at the curve on westbound Sunset Boulevard just west of Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. Voice actor Mel Blanc was severely injured while driving here in 1961, and later sued the City of Los Angeles, prompting a reconstruction of the road. However, the earlier lyrics suggest the long straight starting at "Sunset and Vine" and going past "LaBrea, Schwab's (Pharmacy), and Crescent Heights" (Blvd) would suggest the first curve hit (at a high speed) would be the one at Marmont Lane, {{convert|2.4|mi}} before Doheny.{{original research inline|date=November 2024}} (As it is, the "drag" from Vine to Marmont is also 2.4 miles, but entirely straight.)
A series of curves in the 21600 block of Pacific Coast Highway just east of Carbon Canyon Road in Malibu, California, which has been noted as hazardous.{{cite news|first1=Karen|last1=Garcia|first2=Jeremy|last2=Childs|first3=Richard|last3=Winton|title=BMW driver accused of killing 4 Pepperdine students out on $4-million bond|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-30/bmw-driver-accused-of-killing-4-pepperdine-students-out-on-4-million-bond|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 30, 2023|access-date=November 28, 2023}}
A sharp turn on eastbound Interstate 70 just west of exit 259 near Morrison, Colorado that is preceded by a {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of a 6.5% grade downslope, which has been the site of numerous fatal runaway truck accidents.{{Cite news|last=Gathright |first=Alan |title=Stretch of I-70 has deadly legacy |newspaper=Rocky Mountain News |date=July 12, 2007 |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5626064,00.html |access-date=July 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714222750/http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_5626064%2C00.html |archive-date=July 14, 2007 |url-status=dead }}
Between Albuquerque and Tijeras, State Road 333 (previously known as U.S. Route 66) makes a sudden curve near the I-40 overpass. This stretch of highway has earned its name because of the rocky cliffs on the south side of the highway, and frequent deer traffic contributes to its hazardousness.{{cite web |url=https://www.hcn.org/issues/279/14901/print_view |title=New Mexicans move to make roads more wildlife-friendly |date=2 August 2004 |publisher=Hcn.org|access-date=October 5, 2014}}
A curve on Historic Route 66 at Towanda, Illinois.
In Marquette Township in Marquette County, Michigan, Dead Man's Curve referred to a curve on County Road 492 ({{Coord|46.5318|-87.474}}), where the first state highway center line in the United States was painted when the road was part of State Highway M-15.{{Cite book|first1=Bill |last1=Kulsea |first2=Tom |last2=Shawver |title=Making Michigan Move: A History of Michigan Highways and the Michigan Department of Transportation |url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Making_Michigan_Move#10 |location=Lansing |publisher=Michigan Department of Transportation |year=1980 |page=10 |oclc = 8169232 |access-date = January 18, 2021 |via = Wikisource }}{{cite book |author= Federal Highway Administration |year= 1977 |title= America's Highways, 1776–1976: A History of the Federal-Aid Program |url= https://archive.org/details/americashighways00unit |location= Washington, D.C. |publisher= US Government Printing Office |page= [https://archive.org/details/americashighways00unit/page/127 127] |oclc= 3280344}}
Union Square, Manhattan had a long history of traffic congestion extending back to the 1890s, when trolley lines were first installed. Two parallel trolley lines made a double curve at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street. In spite of traffic wardens on duty, the trolleys regularly struck pedestrians crossing the tracks in the busy shopping district around the park.{{cite web|title=UNION SQUARE AND THE DEMISE OF 'DEAD MAN'S CURVE'|date=28 July 2010 |url=http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2010/07/union-square-and-demise-of-dead-mans.html |publisher=Bowery Boys|access-date=January 15, 2017}} By 1930, the Fourteenth Street Association, a retail business association headed by its president, H. Prescott Beach, had successfully lobbied the New York transit authority to remove the above-ground rails, and move routes underground.{{cite web|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft9k4009m7&chunk.id=d0e2076&toc.depth=1&brand=eschol|title=The "New Woman" Revised|website=Publishing.cdlib.org|access-date=February 9, 2019}}
The nearly 90° turn on Interstate 90 near downtown Cleveland, officially called the "Innerbelt Curve", where the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway connects to the Innerbelt Freeway at a modified trumpet interchange just south of Burke Lakefront Airport ({{Coord|41.5173|N|81.6754|W}}).{{cite web |last1=Dorwart |first1=Laura |title=Why This Cleveland Roadway is Known as 'Dead Man's Curve' |url=https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/ohio/articles/why-this-cleveland-roadway-is-known-as-dead-mans-curve/ |website=Culture Trip |date=29 May 2018 |access-date=9 January 2020}}
A dangerous curve on South Carolina Highway 9 about {{convert|10|mi}} west of Chester, South Carolina, has been the site of several fatal crashes.{{cite web |last1=Ritter |first1=Jana |title=Recent Fatal Crash Prompts Action To Fix 'Deadman's Curve' |url=https://www.truckdrivingjobs.com/news/666/recent-fatal-crash-prompts-action-to-fix-deadmans-curve.html |publisher=TruckDrivingJobs.com |access-date=May 18, 2016}}
A curve on a section of Interstate 76 near Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, known as the "Conshohocken Curve" by many people, has been the site of several fatal and nonfatal crashes.{{Cite web |title=Hours of Delays as Crash Stops Traffic on Schuylkill Expressway |date=23 June 2020 |url=https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/traffic/crash-stops-traffic-on-i-76/2443242/ |access-date=2021-02-18 |publisher=NBC10 Philadelphia |language=en-US}}
Highway 101 in Washington, in between Sequim and Port Angeles.

Dead Man's Curve#California

Examples

See also

References

Further reading