Coronado, CA, September 17 – A crash between two motorcycles on Silver Strand Boulevard left one rider dead and another with serious injuries late Wednesday night, according to the Coronado Police Department. The crash was reported at around 11:30 p.m. on September 16. The identity of the rider who died has not been released. Investigators said the manner in which the two motorcycles collided had not yet been established at the time of the report.
Coronado Motorcycle Crash Leaves One Dead on Silver Strand Boulevard
Both riders were taken to a hospital after the crash. One was pronounced dead, and the other was hospitalized with serious injuries, according to authorities. At least one northbound lane of Silver Strand Boulevard was closed while officers investigated the scene. Officials did not say how long the closure lasted or when the lane reopened to traffic.
The Coronado Police Department said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. No citations or arrests connected to the crash have been announced, according to police. Investigators have not said whether speed, impairment or any other factor contributed to the collision, and no additional information about what led up to the crash has been released.
Several other details about the crash have not been made public, including the names and ages of both riders involved. The Coronado Police Department has not said whether any citations are expected, and authorities have not indicated when further updates on the investigation will be made available to the public.
Lane splitting, and what the Vehicle Code actually says
Vehicle Code section 21658.1 defines lane splitting and authorises the California Highway Patrol to develop educational guidelines for it. What matters after a crash is the distinction the section draws: lane splitting is not prohibited in California, and not prohibited is not the same thing as legal.
The practical effect is that a rider who was lane splitting has not broken a rule by doing so, and an insurer that treats lane splitting as automatic fault is asserting something the statute does not say. Fault still turns on how each party behaved, the same as in any other collision.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
