A 69-year-old motorcyclist died Thursday after the motorcycle he was riding sideswiped another motorcycle traveling alongside it on Old Woman Springs Road near Acoma Trail. The rider, identified by the San Bernardino County Coroner's Office as Matthew Hollek of Edmonds, Washington, was found on the ground by California Highway Patrol officers who responded to the collision report. He was taken to Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, where he was pronounced dead.
According to Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree, the two motorcyclists involved were a husband and wife traveling southbound together on the highway when their bikes sideswiped each other. The wife was uninjured. CHP officers responded to the report of the collision near Acoma Trail, and Hollek was found on the ground at the scene, per the station's account.
A Notoriously Narrow Desert Corridor
The stretch of highway where the crash happened is formally known as State Route 247, a 78-mile route connecting Highway 62 in Yucca Valley to Interstate 15 in Barstow, according to Wikipedia. The southern segment running through Landers and nearby communities is known locally as Old Woman Springs Road. A 1856 government survey party reported elderly Native American women near Cottonwood Springs, and Albert Swarthout established Old Woman Springs Ranch in 1907, according to California Highways.
The road has a single lane in each direction. The California Highway Patrol's Morongo Basin Area office holds primary traffic enforcement and collision investigation authority over this stretch of Route 247, covering unincorporated desert communities including Landers, Yucca Mesa, Flamingo Heights, and Johnson Valley.
Part of a Grim Pattern on the Same Highway
Part of a Grim Pattern on the Same Highway Thursday's fatal crash was reported on Old Woman Springs Road. San Bernardino County recorded 266 motorcyclist fatalities in motorcycle-involved crashes between 2019 and 2023, ranking second among all California counties in total motorcycle deaths, according to Bana Law.
Statewide, California motorcyclist fatalities fell 10.2% to 583 in 2023 from 649 the year before, though deaths remained nearly 19% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 levels, per the California Office of Traffic Safety. Kuzyk Law's analysis of CHP collision data lists speeding and improper turning among risky violations.
Trauma Care in the Morongo Basin
Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, where Hollek was taken, is a 59-bed hospital designated in December 2022 as the Morongo Basin's first Level IV Trauma Center, according to KESQ. That designation involves advanced trauma education, protocols, equipment, and transfer agreements. Route 247 was eligible for the State Scenic Highway System but was not officially designated as a scenic highway by Caltrans, according to local reporting compiled by Observations Along the Road. The southern segment is known locally as Old Woman Springs Road.
