A 53-year-old Columbia man died Saturday afternoon after losing control of his motorcycle on a curve along Highway 132 near Waterford, becoming at least the third person killed at or near the same stretch of road since 2024. Martin Pummill was riding a 2023 Harley-Davidson eastbound on Yosemite Boulevard approaching Crabtree Road when the crash occurred around 2:25 p.m.
According to the Ceres Courier, Pummill was traveling at a speed too fast to safely negotiate the right-hand curve when he and his motorcycle left the roadway in a northeasterly direction. The motorcycle overturned and collided with a metal fence, and Pummill was ejected. He was wearing a helmet at the time but was declared dead at the scene.
California Highway Patrol officers who responded found the motorcycle overturned off the roadway, the outlet reported. The on-scene investigation lasted approximately two hours and 20 minutes, and officers implemented one-way traffic control at the crash site while they worked. The Stanislaus County Coroner's Office later identified the victim as Martin Pummill. CHP's preliminary investigation determined that his speed was too great for the curve, though whether alcohol or drugs played any role in the crash remains unknown, pending further investigation, per the same report.
A Curve With a Deadly History
Pummill's death echoes a crash at the exact same location in June 2024, when a 19-year-old Oakdale resident died in a solo motorcycle wreck at Highway 132 and Crabtree Road, also around 2:25 p.m., according to CBS News. That near-identical timing and location point to a persistent hazard at this rural Stanislaus County intersection.
Just months later, in October 2024, a 17-year-old Hughson High School senior was killed on Yosemite Boulevard a short distance east of Crabtree Road when her vehicle failed to negotiate a curve and spun into oncoming traffic, the Turlock Journal reported. Hoodline also covered a fatal SR-132 crash near Modesto that same month that shut down the roadway.
Basic Speed Law and Helmet Rules in Play
CHP's preliminary finding that Pummill was going too fast for the curve falls under California's Basic Speed Law, Vehicle Code Section 22350, which bars drivers from traveling faster than is reasonable or prudent for existing conditions, regardless of the posted limit, according to the California Traffic Tickets. Officers commonly cite that statute in curve-related crashes even when a rider has not technically exceeded the speed limit.
Pummill was wearing a helmet. California Vehicle Code Section 27803 requires all motorcycle riders and passengers on public highways to wear a properly fitted, Department of Transportation-compliant helmet, per Justia Law. California is one of 19 states that enforces a universal motorcycle helmet law.
Highway 132's Broader Toll
State Route 132 connects Central Valley urban centers to the Sierra Nevada foothills. The corridor carries heavy recreational and commuter traffic between Modesto and foothill communities, and it has seen repeated fatal crashes beyond the Crabtree Road curve. In May 2026, a 28-year-old Waterford driver died on Highway 132 near McEwen Road after his pickup truck left the roadway and struck a utility pole, Hoodline reported in its earlier story, Waterford driver ejected, killed.
Locally, Waterford Police Services investigated 55 traffic crashes in 2024, resulting in 17 injury crashes and one fatality, according to official Stanislaus County budget records. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office contracts to handle traffic enforcement and crash investigations in the Waterford area, the records show.
National Numbers Underscore the Risk
Nationally, single-vehicle crashes account for nearly 39% of all fatal motorcycle accidents, with loss of control on curves identified as a primary crash scenario, according to the Motorcycle Legal Foundation. Separately, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows that 41% of motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes nationwide in 2023 were alcohol-impaired, though toxicology results in Pummill's case remain pending.
Motorcyclists accounted for 16.2% of all U.S. traffic fatalities in 2024 despite making up just 3% of registered vehicles on the road, per the National Safety Council. That disproportionate toll underscores how exposed riders remain compared to occupants of passenger vehicles, even when, as in Pummill's case, they are following safety laws like the state's mandatory helmet requirement.
