A car crashed into a parked truck and then plowed into a crowd of street vendors along Highland Avenue's popular late-night food strip early Saturday, sending four people to hospitals and destroying cooking equipment in the chaos. The crash happened around 1:30 a.m. near Rockford Avenue, in the heart of the stretch of sidewalk vendors known locally as Taco Row.
According to NBC Los Angeles, authorities say a 77-year-old man driving a Toyota Corolla crashed into a parked Tacoma before slamming into the crowd of vendors and customers gathered nearby. Local outlet Inland Wire reported the crash forced a full closure of Highland Avenue between Valaria Drive and Rockford Avenue until roughly 4:30 a.m., with one of the four hospitalized victims listed in critical condition. The impact scattered food across the street and destroyed several pieces of vendors' cooking equipment, per NBC Los Angeles.
A Corridor Already Reeling From Tragedy
The crash lands just days after a 15-year-old girl, Raylynn Ayala, was struck and killed while crossing East Highland Avenue near Guthrie Street on Sept. 1, prompting her family to call for new traffic signals along the road, as Hoodline previously reported. Taken together, the two incidents point to a single week of traffic emergencies along the same corridor.
San Bernardino resident Ralph Ortega told NBC Los Angeles the situation is dangerous and that Taco Row is really popular, attracting people from around the area. He said vendors could relocate to make the area safer for pedestrians. Another San Bernardino resident, Anthony Walthoey, said people sometimes leave their cars while moving with traffic because of a lack of parking in the area, a habit that adds to the chaos on an already busy sidewalk.
Dozens of Vendors, No Clear Fix
Dozens of street vendors operate along the Highland Avenue sidewalk known as Taco Row, drawing large crowds especially when major events happen nearby and business picks up, according to NBC Los Angeles. Police made no arrests in connection with Saturday's crash, authorities said. NBC Los Angeles reported it reached out to several street vendors and to the city of San Bernardino about plans to address safety concerns along the strip, but had not received a response.
A Road With a Documented History of Danger
Highland Avenue's hazards are not new to city officials. In September 2024, San Bernardino was awarded $5,279,592 from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to redesign five high-collision locations, including the intersection of Highland Avenue and Eucalyptus Drive, according to the City of San Bernardino. Major junctions including the Highland Avenue and E Street intersection and the Del Rosa Avenue and Baseline Street intersection rank among the city's most hazardous for drivers and pedestrians due to high-speed traffic, multi-lane approaches, poor nighttime visibility, and frequent red-light running, per an analysis from the Valero Law Group. Countywide, pedestrian safety remains a concern in San Bernardino County.
Vending Rules Add Another Layer of Uncertainty
Beyond the traffic hazards, Taco Row vendors also operate under a patchwork of regulations. Under San Bernardino Municipal Code Title 5, sidewalk vendors are permitted in the public right-of-way if they secure a city business registration permit costing $60 plus state charges, according to the city's own guidance. Food vendors must also obtain a county health permit, according to San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services.
California Senate Bill 972, effective since January 2023, modernized the state's retail food code to create “Compact Mobile Food Operations” for sidewalk vendors and fully decriminalized health code vending violations, making them punishable only by non-criminal administrative citations, according to legal analysis from BBK Law. In September 2020, San Bernardino received authority to cite illegal vendors, according to Everything San Bernardino.
The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice notes that street vendors operate across Inland Empire neighborhoods, and a Fontana street-vendor lawsuit was filed in August 2025 and amended in February 2026. That tension, between livelihoods built over decades and a corridor now facing renewed scrutiny after two separate traffic emergencies in a single week, leaves Taco Row's future along Highland Avenue unresolved.
