Last Updated on March 22, 2019 by CCAR Staff
A motorist who appeared to use the shoulder to pass a big rig died Thursday, March 21, in a fiery crash on the southbound 15 Freeway in Murrieta, the California Highway Patrol said.
The driver smashed into a concrete pillar, and the vehicle caught fire, authorities said.
The man was identified Friday as a 50-year-old Murrieta resident. His name has not been released because he has not been positively identified due to his injuries, the Riverside County Coroner’s Office said.
The 2013 Ford Explorer was on fire when the CHP and Murrieta Fire & Rescue arrived at the scene of the 11:25 a.m. crash, the CHP said. The pillar the Explorer hit is a support column for the 215 Freeway overpass.
No other vehicle was involved in the incident. The driver died at the scene.
A CHP report said a witness saw the Explorer in the freeway’s No. 3, or slow lane, going at 70-75 mph as it approached the slower big rig in the same lane.
The driver swung the Explorer onto the right shoulder and sped up to about 80 mph, approaching the overpass, the report said.
The Explorer “began to veer slightly to right” as it neared the overpass and the front end hit the pillar, causing the engine compartment to catch fire, the CHP said.
The CHP’s Temecula station was investigating.
