A fiery two-car crash on the Ramona Expressway near E. Rider Street in Perris left one person dead and five others hospitalized Saturday evening, with four of the injured in critical condition. The crash happened around 5:40 p.m., and one of the two vehicles involved caught fire during the collision.
Riverside County Sheriff's Office officials reported that the crash occurred near E. Rider Street and Ramona Expressway, according to CBS News Los Angeles. Cal Fire and Riverside County Fire Department crews extinguished the vehicle fire at the scene. Six occupants of the two cars were transported to a nearby hospital, and one of them later died from their injuries. Two of the transported occupants were listed as stable, while four remained in critical condition at the time, per the same report. The incident remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made in connection with it.
A Corridor Already Under the Microscope
The crash lands on a stretch of the Ramona Expressway that regional officials have already flagged as one of the county's most dangerous. Between 2017 and 2022, the 8.6-mile segment between Rider Street and Warren Road recorded 14 traffic fatalities and 17 severe injuries, according to the Riverside County Transportation Commission. That grim record is part of why RCTC broke ground in June on a $184 million safety overhaul of the same stretch, a project that had just celebrated its official groundbreaking roughly two months before this latest crash.
The planned fixes include a raised center median barrier to separate opposing travel lanes, an expansion from two travel lanes to four, upgraded traffic signals, and a reconstruction of the San Jacinto River bridge, the transportation commission notes. The project is funded through a mix of federal, state, and local money, including more than $21 million from Measure A, Riverside County's voter-approved half-cent sales tax for transportation. Construction began in spring 2026, and RCTC has since instituted a reduced 45 mph speed limit along with scheduled overnight full closures between Rider Street and Warren Road while crews work.
A Pattern of Fatal Crashes This Summer
Saturday's crash is not an isolated event on this corridor this year. Just weeks earlier, on July 31, deputies from the San Jacinto Sheriff's Station responded to a fatal collision involving a pedestrian on the Ramona Expressway at Lake Park Drive, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. And on June 9, a three-vehicle collision at Ramona Expressway and Lincoln Avenue near Hemet killed a 41-year-old man and his 9-year-old son and sent three others to the hospital, a crash Hoodline previously covered.
The corridor's troubled history predates this year's construction push. Back in December 2024, deputies from the Perris Station investigated a fatal crash at Ramona Expressway and North Perris Boulevard, in which a pedestrian was struck and killed by an SUV. In response to the broader pattern of speed-related collisions across the county, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office ran a targeted high-speed enforcement campaign in July and August under the slogan “Speeding Catches Up With You: Slow the Fast Down.”
Part of a Larger Regional Plan
The Ramona Expressway safety upgrade is one piece of the broader 16-mile Mid County Parkway, a planned east-west transportation corridor intended to eventually link Interstate 215 in Perris with State Route 79 in San Jacinto, per RCTC. Officials have framed the project as a long-term fix for a road that has claimed lives for years, even as construction crews and reduced speed limits share the road with everyday traffic in the meantime.
For now, the cause of Saturday's crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not announced any arrests. The Riverside County Sheriff's Office has not released the identities of those killed or hospitalized.
