New Lindero on-ramp claims life




A young Thousand Oaks man died after he lost control of his car and struck a tree on the new Lindero Canyon Road freeway ramp last week.

Steven Seery, 20, had left a party in Oak Park on July 5 and was driving south on Lindero Canyon Road toward Westlake Village. He entered the newly constructed northbound ramp of the 101 Freeway. Skid marks from Seery’s 2006 Honda Civic were seen on the ramp’s curve, California Highway Patrol Officer Thomas Bomar said.

Friends of Seery told his mother, Holly Seery of Thousand Oaks, that he’d left the party at 2 a.m. He wasn’t found in his crashed car until 3:13 a.m. No other vehicles were involved.

“All of his friends told me he left the party in good spirits,” Holly Seery said. “He does not drink. Everyone knows he doesn’t drink. They said he was happy and sober.”

Law enforcement officials are still investigating the accident and so far have no answers as to the cause of the fatal crash, Bomar said.

“It is unknown as to why he lost control. It could have been mechanical, speed, driver error, intoxication—we don’t know,” Bomar said.

It also could have been unfamiliarity with the new ramp, he said.

The skid marks were left at the top of the ramp. The car slid off the road into the dirt and hit a tree between the freeway and the on-ramp.

Holly Seery said the new ramp did not have reflectors on the pavement, so at night drivers would not be able to distinguish between the pavement and the shoulder.

“I want answers,” she said.

It will take time to get them, Bomar said.

“He was a very bright kid. Steven was highly gifted,” Seery said.

The man played football his senior year at Westlake High School and graduated in 2007. He later studied finance at Moorpark College, where he earned a spot on the dean’s list.

“He was to go to USC in the fall as an economics major,” his mother said.

“He had a goofy, great sense of humor and lots and lots of friends. He was a good influence on his friends. He encouraged them to get an education,” she said.

The mother and Steven’s father, Gregory Seery, are divorced. He lives in Nebraska, she said.

Steven Seery is also survived by his brother David, 23, sister Jennifer, 22, grandparents Ted and Miriam Fleser of Woodland Hills, and grandfather Major Seery of Colorado. He also has aunts, uncles and cousins.

“He was very close to his cousins,” Holly Seery said.

Family and friends gathered for a Steven Seery memorial service in Simi Valley on July 11.


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