A 25-year-old Lake Elsinore man was killed early Sunday when a pickup traveling the wrong way on the westbound 91 Freeway slammed head-on into a big rig near Serfas Club Drive in Corona. The collision happened before sunrise and shut down the westbound lanes for hours while emergency crews worked the scene. Corona Fire Department personnel pronounced the pickup driver dead at the scene.
According to a news release from the California Highway Patrol, the crash occurred around 5:30 a.m. when a black Ford F-150 entered the freeway from an off-ramp and began traveling east in the westbound lanes before striking a white Volvo tractor-trailer as it passed Serfas Club Drive, CBS Los Angeles reported. Debris scattered into adjacent lanes and hit a Mercedes-Benz whose driver was not injured. As 911 calls poured in from other motorists, CHP units were already trying to track down the wrong-way vehicle.
The Riverside County coroner's office identified the victim as 25-year-old Abel Quintero of Lake Elsinore and listed the injury time as about 5:40 a.m. and the time of death as about 5:55 a.m., according to a coroner press release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. The release places the collision on westbound SR-91 roughly 900 to 1,000 feet west of Maple Street and notes that the California Highway Patrol is leading the investigation.
CHP spokesman Javier Navarro told reporters the big-rig driver, described as a 20-year-old Moreno Valley resident, was taken to a regional trauma center with minor injuries and is expected to recover, according to MyNewsLA. Officers said it is not yet known whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash and urged anyone with information to contact the CHP Riverside office at 951-324-7210.
Why wrong-way crashes are so deadly
Wrong-way collisions on divided highways are relatively rare but disproportionately deadly because they are so often head-on hits at freeway speeds. A recent analysis from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that fatal wrong-way crashes increased nationally from 2014 to 2023 and highlighted impairment and nighttime hours as common risk factors. Those are among the questions investigators will be digging into in this case.
Investigation and traffic impacts
The crash triggered a SigAlert and shut down westbound SR-91 for hours while crews removed wreckage and investigators documented the scene, CBS Los Angeles reported. An autopsy and further testing were pending as the CHP Riverside office continued its work to determine how and why the pickup ended up going the wrong way.
Anyone who saw the crash or has dash-cam video is asked to call the CHP Riverside office at 951-324-7210 to help investigators piece together the sequence of events. Local agencies also reminded drivers to report suspected wrong-way vehicles immediately and to use extra caution on freeways during pre-dawn hours, when visibility and alertness are often at their lowest.
