A 21-year-old Hemet man was killed early Friday when the motocross bike he was riding overturned on McCall Park Road near Mountain Center, ejecting him without a helmet. The crash was reported around 6:25 a.m. at McCall Park Road and Vista Way, inside the San Bernardino National Forest, and Riverside County Fire Department paramedics who reached the scene pronounced him dead there.
According to a California Highway Patrol statement reported by KESQ, CHP Officer Ricardo Palomera said the rider was traveling on a Honda CRF450R motocross bike along McCall Park Road when he lost control at a curve near Vista Way. The bike overturned and threw him from the seat, and he was not wearing a helmet, according to a report from mynewsla.com. His speed at the time has not been confirmed.
The same report notes that a CHP spokesman said alcohol was believed to be a factor in the crash. Investigators have not released further detail on how that determination was reached, and the outlet's account does not specify whether the rider was headed to or from a nearby residence when the crash occurred.
A Winding Road With a History
The bike was identified as a Honda CRF450R motocross bike.
California has a separate registration process for off-highway vehicles, according to the California DMV. The crash report said the rider was not wearing a helmet.
Forest Rules Push Riders to Designated Trails
The San Bernardino National Forest has designated OHV routes and trails, according to the San Bernardino National Forest. The Forest Service says routes not shown on its Motor Vehicle Use Map are not open to public motor vehicle travel, and the forest has no cross-country travel areas.
National data underscores how dangerous that gap can be. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission documented 2,577 off-highway vehicle deaths nationwide between 2019 and 2021 in its 2024 annual safety report, pointing to vehicle overturns, collisions with fixed objects, and occupant ejections as the leading fatal hazards. Separate CPSC mortality tracking found California was among five states — along with Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida — that together accounted for approximately one-quarter of all off-highway vehicle fatalities in the country.
Alcohol and Crash Risk
Research published in Accident Analysis & Prevention and cataloged by the National Institutes of Health found adult riders in nighttime ATV crashes were more likely to test positive for alcohol than daytime riders — 44 percent at night compared with 13 percent during the day, according to the study on PMC. Friday's crash occurred around 6:25 a.m.
State DUI law does not distinguish between street-legal and off-highway vehicles. Under California Vehicle Code sections 23152 and 23153, driving under the influence applies to any motor vehicle, including unregistered dirt bikes, operated on public roads or public land, exposing riders to criminal penalties, license suspension, and impoundment.
A Recurring Pattern
The Mountain Center crash echoes a case Hoodline covered reported in Loxahatchee two weeks ago, in which a 44-year-old rider on an unregistered, helmetless dirt bike died after traveling along a sidewalk or paved walkway and then an unpaved shoulder before striking a stop sign. Both crashes involved unhelmeted riders on non-street-legal bikes losing control on public pavement, a pattern that keeps surfacing in fatal dirt bike incidents around the country.
CHP is asking anyone with information about Friday's crash to contact the CHP Beaumont office at 951-846-5300. The Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Bureau has not yet released toxicology findings, and it remains unclear whether CHP officers in that mountain corridor typically issue citations or impound off-road bikes found operating on McCall Park Road.
