Fatal Ramona Expressway Crash: Details Released By CHP

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A Beaumont man and his two young passengers escaped serious injury during a deadly traffic crash caused by a 73-year-old woman who pulled in front of them on the Ramona Expressway, according to details released Thursday by the California Highway Patrol.

Wednesday's three-vehicle crash occurred at approximately 1:47 p.m. on the expressway at Lincoln Avenue.

According to the CHP, the septuagenarian from Hemet was behind the wheel of a 2020 Chevrolet Spark with her 90-year-old mother as a passenger. They were at a Lincoln Avenue stop sign, waiting to turn into northbound Ramona Expressway traffic.

For reasons still under investigation by the CHP, the woman pulled in front of the 35-year-old Beaumont man's 2000 Nissan Frontier. He was heading south on the Ramona Expressway and could not avoid the Chevy.

The two vehicles hit, sending the Chevrolet out of control where it crashed into a 2018 Toyota Sienna driven by a 55-year-old Hemet man.

The Chevy driver suffered serious injuries and had to be transported by air to a local hospital. Her elderly mother was sent by ground ambulance to Riverside University Health System - Medical Center in Moreno Valley, but she succumbed to her injuries, the CHP reported.

The Beaumont man and his two young passengers — an 8-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy — were sent to a local hospital "with possible minor injuries," according to the CHP.

The Toyota Sienna driver was not injured, the agency reported.

There were no reports of arrests.

The CHP cautioned drivers to be safe: "The California Highway Patrol would like to remind you to look left, then right, and again to the left prior to pulling away from a stop sign to be sure the intersection is clear and safe to proceed."