A 59-year-old Moreno Valley man died Sunday morning after driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic on the 91 Freeway in Riverside, setting off a head-on chain-reaction crash that also sent two other drivers to the hospital. Daniel Romo Jr. was behind the wheel of a brown Ford Flex traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes near University Avenue when the SUV first collided head-on with a Honda Civic, redirecting it into the center divider, and then collided head-on with a Toyota Corolla just before 9:30 a.m.
The crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. on eastbound SR-91 approximately 240 feet west of University Avenue, and Romo later died at a hospital. Witnesses told investigators that the Ford Flex was traveling the wrong way in the eastbound lanes before the impact, according to MyNewsLA.com. The California Highway Patrol said preliminary information indicates the Ford collided with the Honda and redirected it into the center divider.
Two Other Drivers Hurt
The Toyota Corolla driver and the Honda Civic driver were both transported by ambulance to a hospital, with injuries described by CHP as ranging from minor to major. Romo was also taken to a hospital by ambulance before he died of his injuries. A video was also available at the linked source, and the available accounts did not identify any animal killed in the collision.
CHP provided information about the crash. Whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash remains under investigation, CHP said. The Riverside County Coroner's Office identified the driver as Daniel Romo Jr. of Moreno Valley.
A Pattern of Deadly Wrong-Way Crashes on Inland Empire Freeways
Sunday's crash followed another fatal wrong-way collision on a Riverside County freeway in recent months. In April, a 25-year-old Lake Elsinore man was killed on westbound SR-91 near Serfas Club Drive in Corona after his pickup entered via an off-ramp traveling the wrong way and struck a tractor-trailer head-on, as previously reported by Hoodline. A suspected DUI driver entered I-215 the wrong way and triggered a crash.
The frequency of these crashes is not simply bad luck. Caltrans safety data shows wrong-way driving collisions make up less than 1% of all deadly crashes statewide, yet they carry a fatality rate 12 times higher than other highway collisions. Wrong-way collisions kill an average of 43 people annually on state highways, and 61.4% of wrong-way drivers in 2019 were impaired at the time of the crash, according to a Go Safely CA report.
National Numbers Point to a Worsening Trend
The problem extends well beyond the Inland Empire. Research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, relayed by the Colorado Department of Transportation, found that fatal wrong-way crashes on U.S. divided highways nearly doubled from 278 in 2014 to 520 in 2023, causing 5,730 total deaths over that decade. A separate AAA Foundation study identified alcohol impairment, older age, and driving without a passenger as risk factors for wrong-way driving incidents.
State engineers have tested ways to fight back. Caltrans has listed wrong-way pilot projects. It remains unclear whether the University Avenue interchange where Sunday's crash occurred had been retrofitted with that wrong-way detection technology.
CHP is asking anyone who witnessed Sunday's crash to call its Accident Investigation Unit at 951-324-7210. The circumstances of how Romo entered the freeway traveling the wrong way, and whether impairment ultimately factored into the crash, remain part of the ongoing investigation.
