Pedestrian killed in Central Long Beach crash, police say
The woman was crossing PCH near Gundry Avenue early Tuesday when she was hit by a pickup truck, according to authorities.
Police are investigating the death of a woman who was hit by a car while crossing Pacific Coast Highway in Central Long Beach early Tuesday morning.
Long Beach police say the woman was walking north across PCH, outside of a marked crosswalk, near Gundry Avenue around 5:57 a.m. when she was hit by a 2024 Chevy Colorado traveling westbound on PCH.
The driver of the truck stopped and gave aid to the woman until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived and took her to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries, according to authorities.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office is working to identify the woman, police said.
The driver of the truck remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, according to the LBPD.
At this time, police said that they do not believe speed, distracted driving or impaired driving contributed to the crash.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding the crash to call Collision Investigation Detective Dougherty at 562-570-7358.
This is the fourth traffic fatality reported by the LBPD in 2026. Last year, the department reported 58 traffic-related fatalities, making it the deadliest year on the road since at least 1990, when the city reported 51 deaths, according to LBPD data from a public records request by the Watchdog.
Traffic deaths hit a low in 1999 with 15, data shows. From 2000 through 2019, the city averaged 26 fatal traffic accidents per year.
In 2020, fatalities reached a 30-year high of 49. That same year, city officials passed the Safe Streets Long Beach Action Plan, which included Vision Zero and an ambitious goal of reducing "traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to zero by 2026."
Traffic fatalities dipped to 45 deaths in both 2021 and 2022, data shows. That figure then dropped to 36 deaths in 2023, but jumped to 44 in 2024.
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