Mesa, CA, September 23 – Four vehicles were involved in a crash on the freeway near Mesa Gateway Airport Tuesday afternoon, and one of the vehicles caught fire, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Minor injuries were reported, though the total number of people hurt has not been specified. The collision closed the southbound lanes of the freeway, and the cause has not yet been disclosed.
Mesa Four-Vehicle Crash on Loop 202 Sparks Fire, Minor Injuries
The crash happened around 4 p.m. on the southbound Loop 202, also known as the Santan Freeway, near Elliot Road, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Four vehicles were involved in the pileup. One of the vehicles caught fire following the collision, though the transportation department did not specify what caused the blaze or how the crash itself occurred.
Firefighters responded to the scene north of Mesa Gateway Airport and extinguished the fire, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. All southbound lanes of the Loop 202 at Elliot Road were closed immediately after the crash, and the transportation department later reported that the left lanes reopened to traffic.
The exact number of people hurt in the crash has not been released, and it is not known whether any of them required hospital treatment. The Arizona Department of Transportation has not said what caused the four vehicles to collide or how the fire started. Further details about the crash had not been made public as of the latest update from the agency.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
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.
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.
