Fresno, CA, September 10 – A 64-year-old Fresno man died after his motorcycle collided with a cart being towed by a bicyclist, according to the California Highway Patrol. Gregory Hansen was riding a 2005 Harley-Davidson motorcycle when the crash happened Monday night. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. The CHP said the bicyclist had been riding the wrong way in the dark while pulling the cart.
Fresno County Motorcyclist Dies After Colliding With Bicycle Cart on North Avenue
According to the California Highway Patrol, the collision happened around 9 p.m. on September 7, 2026, on North Avenue near Minnewawa Avenue in Fresno County. Hansen was riding westbound when he struck a cart being towed by a bicyclist who was riding eastbound in the westbound lane at the time, the CHP said, and the impact knocked his motorcycle to the ground.
Hansen was taken to a hospital for treatment after the crash and died there a short time later, according to the California Highway Patrol. Investigators said the bicyclist was pulling the cart in the dark without any lights on the bicycle or the cart, which the CHP said made it difficult for Hansen to see them in his path.
The California Highway Patrol has not said whether the bicyclist was injured in the collision or released their identity. The agency has not announced a specific cause for the crash, and no citations or arrests have been reported. The investigation remains open, and further details had not been released as of this report.
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.
