A teen driver was speeding when he caused a head-on collision on a mountain highway in Lake Arrowhead. (Photo: Mountain News)

An Alhambra man was hospitalized Sunday after a teen driver who was speeding too fast to negotiate a curve veered into oncoming traffic and caused a head-on collision on Highway 18 in Lake Arrowhead.

 •   A 17-year-old was driving a Pontiac Firebird at high speed and could not negotiate a long curve on a mountain highway.

•  The Firebird veered into oncoming traffic and broadsided a Nissan Altima. The Altima driver was ejected from his car.

•   The Altima driver was airlifted to a hospital with major injuries.

The mountain highway crash occurred at 11:45 a.m., according to a report in the Mountain News.

California Highway Patrol officer Benjamin Baker said a 17-year-old driver from Crestline was traveling southbound on Highway 18 (Upper Waterman Canyon Road)  at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his 1996 Pontiac Firebird.

The teen, whose identity was withheld by the newspaper because he is a minor, was unable to negotiate a long, sweeping curve near Pohl Ranch Road, Baker said. The Firebird veered across the two-foot-wide center median into the northbound lane, where it slammed into the driver’s side of an oncoming silver 2002 Nissan Altima.

The impact caused both vehicles to spin out of control.

As the Altima careened across both northbound lanes, its damaged left front door flew open and the driver — 43-year-old Robert Luis Muñoz of Alhambra — was ejected from the vehicle. The Altima finally came to rest on the east shoulder.

Meanwhile, the Firebird also spun across the highway and crashed into a metal guardrail just beyond the east shoulder, according to  CHP investigator Andrew Myers.

Muñoz suffered major injuries, including extensive abrasions on his right side and head, Baker said.  He was airlifted via helicopter to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for treatment.

Baker said Muñoz’s 14-year-old male passenger was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident and was not injured. He accompanied Muñoz to the hospital.

The teen driver of the Firebird and his 28-year-old passenger, Jose Emmanuel Yon Song, sustained minor injuries but neither was taken to a hospital, Myers said.

The CHP did not make any arrests and had not yet issued any citations as of Tuesday morning. The accident is still being investigated.

Lake Arrowhead Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.