Dead-Man's Curve in Lebec, California, 2010

Dead Man's Curve is an American nickname for a curve in a road that has claimed lives because of numerous crashes.

Examples

* A curve on

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare i ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

memorialized in the hit song " Dead Man's Curve" by

Jan and Dean Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles ...

. 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 Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

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 Malmont Lane, 2.4 miles before Doheny. (As it is, the "drag" from Vine to Malmont is also 2.4 miles, but entirely straight.) * A sharp turn on eastbound

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

just west of exit 259 near

Morrison, Colorado The Town of Morrison is a home rule municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 428 at the 2010 census. Red Rocks Amphitheatre is located nearby. History This small foothills settlement is named after George ...

that is preceded by a stretch of a 6.5% grade downslope, which has been the site of numerous fatal runaway truck accidents. * In Marquette Township in

Marquette County, Michigan Marquette County ( ) is a county located in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 66,017. The county seat is Marquette. The county is named for Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary. It ...

, Dead Man's Curve referred to a curve on County Road 492 (), where the first state highway center line in the United States was painted when the road was part of State Highway M-15. * Between

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

and Tijeras, State Road 333 (previously known as U.S. Route 66) makes a sudden curve near the

I-40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

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. *

Union Square, Manhattan Union Square is a historic intersection and surrounding neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, located where Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Bowery, the former Bowery Road – now Park Avenue, Fourth Avenue – came together in ...

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. 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. * The nearly 90° turn on

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, a ...

near downtown

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

, officially called the "Innerbelt Curve", where the

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, often shortened to "the Shoreway", is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland and Bratenahl, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Brid ...

connects to the

Innerbelt Freeway An innerbelt or outerbelt is a ring road or collection of roadways which is or implies that it is inner or outer ring road in relation to another ring road. Use of these terms is most common and near-exclusive to routes in the United States, mostly ...

at a modified

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usin ...

just south of Burke Lakefront Airport (). * A dangerous curve on

South Carolina Highway 9 South Carolina Highway 9 (SC 9) is a major state highway in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The highway travels from Cherry Grove Beach to the North Carolina state line upstate. The highway is currently the longest state highway i ...

about 10 miles west of

Chester, South Carolina Chester is a small rural city in Chester County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,607 at the 2010 census, down from 6,476 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chester County. History While being transported to Richmond, ...

, has been the site of several fatal crashes. * A curve on

Schuylkill Expressway The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a freeway through southern Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 (I-76) in the U.S. state of Penns ...

, a section of Interstate 76, near Conshohocken known as the Conshohocken Curve by many people, has been the site of several fatal and nonfatal crashes.

References

{{Road types Interstate 90 Roads in Ohio Transportation in Cleveland Road hazards

Examples

See also

References