Person killed in solo-vehicle crash on Pearblossom Highway

A person was killed Monday in a solo-vehicle crash along a stretch of Highway 138 in the Antelope Valley that has already claimed six other lives in the past three months.

The wreck was first reported by a passer-by just after 3:30 a.m. along the the roadway, also known as Pearblosson Highway, at Hampel Avenue, according to California Highway Patrol logs.

The vehicle went off the side of the road and down an embankment, officials said.

Paramedics pronounced the driver dead at the scene.

No further details regarding the circumstances of the crash were available Wednesday, not was the identity of the person killed.

Monday's crash marked the seventh fatality reported on the same stretch of highway in three months.

Highway 138 fatalities

Five people died when a Toyota Yaris failed to stop at a stop sign along northbound 106th Street and went into the path of a Mitsubishi sedan that was traveling east on Highway 138 on the evening of April 28, CHP officials said at the time.

The driver of the both vehicles, along with three passengers who had been riding in the Toyota, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Within 90 minutes of the freeway reopening following the crash investigation, another deadly wreck took place just a few hundred feet to the east at Hampel Avenue.

A Dodge minivan was headed west about 5:30 a.m. on April 29 when is drifted to the right shoulder and struck the rear of a parked big rig, according to the CHP. The minivan driver died at the scene. The truck driver was not injured.

The deadly collisions, along with others that preceded them, prompted community members and leaders to call for action to improve the safety of the roadway.

Among them was State Rep. Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale, who sent a letter to Caltrans in the wake of late-April's fatalities asking for "urgent" safety enhancements on what he called "one of our state's most hazardous roadways."

Issues include unusual traffic patterns, high-speed conditions and insufficient safety measures, he said.

More: DUI suspected in crash that left five people dead on Highway 138 near Palmdale

Any witnesses, or anyone with information, can reach the CHP's Antelope Valley Office at (661) 948-8541.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Person killed in solo-vehicle crash on Pearblossom Highway