Accident

[Updated 7:08 p.m.] All lanes are now clear following a series of accidents in Burbank. A three-car crash caused a series of accidents in Burbank Monday afternoon. Burbank Fire along with Los Angeles City Fire responded to the westbound lanes of the 134 Freeway near Hollywood Way at 4:45 p.m. today, according to California Highway Patrol. An SUV involved in the collision was overturned beneath the Hollywood Way overpass. Some motorists involved were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.

Plans to open a 24-hour Taco Bell restaurant at one of the most dangerous intersections on Buena Vista Street have nearby residents fuming. Taco Bell plans to demolish a building that once housed Conroy's Flowers at the intersection of Buena Vista and Burbank Boulevard to make way for a new restaurant that would have a drive-through, a dining room and onsite parking. Burbank Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson looked at accident rates at major intersections along Buena Vista from the beginning of 2006 to mid-2010.

A 27-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday to shooting an arrow through a window of his elderly neighbor’s house in January. No one was hurt in the incident, which left an arrow lodged in a wall of the couple’s bedroom. According to police officials, Ronald Helen admitted to shooting a 2 1/2-foot-long arrow through the window of Priscilla and Andras Muller’s home on the 700 block of North Buena Vista Street, but said it was an accident. The couple found the arrow lodged in their bedroom wall on Jan. 28. It had pierced a fiberglass panel separating the adjacent property before breaking a 3-inch hole in a window in the Mullers’ home and striking the bedroom wall.

Bob Hope Airport is launching its first-ever study of wildlife in an effort to reduce the odds of potentially dangerous collisions between birds and aircraft. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority this week approved a $126,000, yearlong study of wildlife to meet the Federal Aviation Administration requirements, which were spurred by concerns of so-called bird strikes, according to airport executive director Dan Feger. Since 1990, 273 bird strikes have occurred at Bob Hope Airport, according to the FAA. Airport spokesman Victor Gill said none has proven to be serious.

A 65-year-old Burbank man was killed Tuesday morning after his motorcycle collided with a big rig at Buena Vista Street and Burbank Boulevard, officials said — the second fatality on city streets in less than a week. The motorcyclist, who authorities identified as Galo German Ulloa, was traveling south on Buena Vista Street about 6:20 a.m., Burbank Police Lt. J.J. Puglisi said. A big rig traveling north on Buena Vista Street made a left turn onto Burbank Boulevard, striking Ulloa in the intersection and dragging him about 100 feet, Puglisi added.

At the corner of California and Columbus avenues in Glendale stands a makeshift memorial. White silk flowers and candles commemorate the sudden passing of Misak Ranjbar, and 80-year-old man struck and killed in that intersection last month. September, for whatever reason, seemed to have an unusual amount of vehicular mayhem. Two big rigs crashed on the Foothill (210) Freeway in as many days in La Cañada, an allegedly intoxicated man drove his Corvette into a Burbank's home, and a car rammed into the Glendale Marie Calendar's following a collision.

DOWNTOWN — Months after district officials scrapped a state-sponsored program that tapped police and fire resources to stage a mock drunk-driving accident, upperclassmen at Burbank High School on Wednesday were reintroduced to the perils of drugs and alcohol. When administrators announced the cancellation of the mock accident, “Every 15 Minutes,” arguing that a one-time shock approach failed to reach today’s teenagers, some city officials worried that students would lose the first-hand exposure to alcohol-related vehicle tragedies.

DOWNTOWN — Months after scrapping a state-sponsored program that tapped police and fire resources to stage a mock drunk-driving accident and its impacts on friends and families, upperclassman at Burbank High School on Wednesday were reintroduced to the perils of drugs and alcohol. When administrators announced the cancellation of the mock accident, “Every 15 Minutes,” arguing that a one-time shock approach failed to reach today’s teenagers, some city officials worried that students would lose the first-hand exposure credited with reducing the number of alcohol-related vehicle tragedies.

CITY HALL — District administrators have announced plans to do away with a popular school-based alcohol prevention program, citing a lack of proof that the staged event actually affects student behavior. Despite receiving strong support from the City Council, a major contributor to the program, Burbank Unified School District administrators have decided to cancel the “Every 15 Minutes” program, which taps police and fire resources to stage a fake drunk-driving accident and its impacts to friends and family, contending the one-time shock approach tends to wear off and fails to reach today’s teenagers.