Norwalk man goes viral documenting scores of crashes at end of 105 Freeway
NORWALK, Calif. (KABC) -- For years, the abrupt end of the 105 Freeway in Norwalk has been a problem for drivers. Dozens of crashes have led to injuries, several deaths and a lot of repairs.
Eyewitness News has covered more than one crash in recent years that saw a car go into the building at the dead end on Studebaker Road.
Oswald Ponce lives close enough that he doesn't need to be told there's been another crash.
"Some of them would even wake me up at night," Ponce told ABC7.
He witnessed so many crashes there that he started an Instagram account to document them all.
"It's been like bigger than I thought it'd be," Ponce said. "It was more of like a gag at first. I didn't think a lot of people would really see it."
Well, people have seen it. His account, @105exitcrashes, has over 19,000 followers, and one video has close to 18 million views.
At the suggestion of several of his followers, Ponce began keeping a tally of how many days it's been since the last crash. He's had to replace the dry-erase sign counting the tally around a dozen times after it was stolen or damaged, including a spray paint tagging the night before he met with Eyewitness News. But last week, the sign reached triple digits.
"It's the first time I've reached 100 while running the account, Ponce said. "And probably the first time it's reached 100 days here without a crash in years."
Things got so bad two years ago that L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn all but begged Caltrans to put in lights, signs and rumble strips.
"It still is a bad design that probably should've never been allowed to happen," Hahn told Eyewitness News in April 2024. "But until we have major changes at that intersection, the least the state of California could do would be to make it as safe as possible."
But even with all of those additions, the crashes are still happening, albeit less frequently. Ponce says he's been told his account may have something to do with the decrease.
"That's possible," Ponce said. "Maybe people are too embarrassed to crash here now because they'll be put on blast on my account... If I'm making a good impact on society, that's good."
"I don't want to take away from the seriousness of it. People getting hurt, it's obviously an issue," Ponce continued. "If it's causing less crashes, it's a good thing."
Maybe someday soon, if the crashes dwindle and the string of crashless days continues to grow, it will make his Instagram account obsolete. Ponce says he'd be just fine with that.
Eyewitness News reached out to the city of Norwalk, which said it is still working with Caltrans and other authorities to make the intersection safe.
Caltrans sent a long list of additions that have been made in the intersection over the years, and it says there are many more that will continue into the year 2029.
