RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Early Tuesday morning, Tiger Woods was driving north down Hawthorne Boulevard when his car crossed a median and rolled into the brush at the bottom of a hill. The steep road is known for being a speed trap in the Rancho Palos Verdes area.
Keith Cole, who lives on Rockbluff Drive, the street above Hawthorne Boulevard, said he heard the accident.
"Just after 7 this morning, my wife and I heard a large collision. It's not unusual to hear that type of noise coming from Hawthorne. There are a lot of accidents on that road, and I did mention to her that it sounded like a bad accident," he said.
But Cole wasn't too fazed by the noise as crashes happen on Hawthorne frequently, he said.
"We hear accidents almost on a monthly basis," Cole added.
He learned later that morning that it was golfer Tiger Woods who had crashed into the bottom of a hill.
Ayrton Trey, who lives near Hawthorne, said he heard the helicopters swarming. Trey attended Peninsula High School, which is just up the street from Hawthorne Boulevard, and remembered people in high school getting into accidents.
"It's a very dangerous road," he said. "Freshman year of high school, a girl passed away after not wearing her seatbelt at the closest light down at the bottom of the hill."
The speed limit on Hawthorne Boulevard is 45 mph, but many say it's easy to go faster — sometimes without realizing.
Sabine Hansen, who also attended high school locally and lives in the area, said the early mornings can be particularly dangerous with thick fog.
"It's steep. It's really windy. It's honestly very easy to steer out of control, so it's not too hard to imagine anyone would have an accident. It's just odd that it was Tiger Woods," she said.
On Tuesday evening, Wood's team released a statement confirming he had been taken to UCLA-Harbor Medical Center where "additional injuries to the bone of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins."
They added that Woods was awake, responsive, and recovering.