Three people were killed early Thursday, November 12, when a wrong-way driver triggered a multi-vehicle crash on the 91 Freeway in Riverside, California, KTLA reported, in a report by Ginger Chan blaming a wrong-way driver for the fatal pileup.
Source: KTLA
The crash happened at around 2 a.m. on the westbound lanes of State Route 91 near 14th Street, and involved three vehicles: a black BMW sedan, a white SUV and a semi-truck, according to a report based on California Highway Patrol (CHP) traffic logs.
Source: CHP traffic logs, via Pulptastic
CHP traffic logs showed a vehicle travelling at high speed eastbound in the westbound lanes, with officers reporting that one vehicle had been swerving between cars before the fatal impact, the report said. A witness named Michelle told officers the collision was related to a wrong-way driver, according to the logs. Those log entries are the CHP's early record of the incident; the Patrol has not yet published a final account of how the wrong-way vehicle entered the freeway.
Source: CHP traffic logs, via Pulptastic
The force of the crash left the white SUV overturned on its side near the freeway wall, and the black BMW sustained catastrophic front-end damage, the report said. Officers discovered the dead inside the black sedan, and a fourth victim was transported to a hospital in unknown condition. The big rig, which ended up facing the flow of traffic, showed comparatively minor damage to its front end.
Source: CHP traffic logs, via Pulptastic
All westbound lanes closed, SigAlert issued
The CHP closed all westbound lanes of the 91 Freeway and the 14th Street onramp and issued a SigAlert for the area. Caltrans District 8 posted on X: “All lanes closed on WB SR-91 near 14th Street in Riverside due to traffic incident,” adding: “Maintenance crews are on scene for clean up. Unknown ETO. Seek alternate route if possible. Check for updates.” Traffic remained severely backed up through at least 6:40 a.m., and the CHP closed its end of the incident at around 5:15 a.m. after deploying flares and securing the crash site, while debris-cleanup crews worked through the morning.
Source: CHP traffic logs, via Pulptastic
The City of Riverside Fire Department's own incident report adds the emergency-response timeline: it was dispatched at 1:31 a.m. to a traffic collision on the freeway, and after dispatchers used the CHP website and determined that extrication was needed, it immediately sent a truck company, a battalion chief and an additional ambulance unit. The first arriving unit found two vehicles with major damage, both requiring extrication of the occupants, and a rescue squad, Rescue 3 and two more ambulances were then dispatched. The department states plainly: “The cause of the accident appears to be a wrong way driver.”
Source: Riverside Fire Department
A key Inland Empire corridor, shut before dawn
State Route 91 — the Riverside Freeway — is one of Southern California's main east–west corridors, carrying commuters and heavy freight between Riverside and the wider Inland Empire, Orange County and the Los Angeles basin. A full westbound closure near downtown Riverside in the pre-dawn hours lands directly on the shift changes of the warehouse and trucking economy that runs through this corridor, including the many Punjabi-origin truck drivers and warehouse workers who live and work across Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Drivers heading west on Thursday morning were told to seek alternate routes, with no estimated time to reopen given in the first Caltrans updates.
Known: three people died, a fourth was taken to hospital, three vehicles were involved, and all westbound lanes were closed under a SigAlert. Not yet released in the reports available: the names of the dead, which vehicle was travelling the wrong way, and whether alcohol, drugs, speed beyond the log's 'high speed' note, or a medical emergency played any part. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the CHP or the Riverside County coroner releases those details.
Wrong-way crashes are among the most feared incidents on California freeways precisely because they usually happen at night, at full freeway speed, and head-on — leaving correct-direction drivers almost no time to react. Investigators in cases like this one typically work backwards from the entry point: which ramp the vehicle used, what signs and markings were in place, and what witnesses and cameras recorded in the minutes before impact.
What happens next: the CHP's investigation continues, the Riverside County coroner will identify the three people killed once their families have been notified, and Caltrans will confirm the full reopening of the westbound lanes. No identities had been released in the reports available at the time of publication, and the condition of the hospitalised victim was described only as unknown.