Nov. 3 Highway 243 cycle collision

Around noon on Wed., Nov. 3, a motorcyclist northbound on State Highway 243 just south of the grinding station rounded a curve, crossed the yellow line and collided with the left rear tail light assembly of a southbound tandem multi-axle truck, according to California Highway Patrol officer Mike Murawski.

The bike skidded and came to rest north of the collision point near the shoulder of the northbound lane, closing traffic in both directions for nearly 30 minutes. The driver of the motorcycle, who appeared to be in his 30’s and is unidentified at the time of this writing, was airlifted from the Mountain Center helipad. The Forest Service served as incident commander since they were first on the scene, aided by Idyllwild Fire and CAL FIRE. There is no word of the motorcyclist’s condition at this time.

Murawski cited excessive speed on the part of the motorcyclist as a probable cause of the incident. Murawski acknowledged the high number of motorcycle collisions on Hill highways and noted that excessive speed by the cyclists is the primary contributing factor. “I write them tickets and it’s like a game of cat and mouse,” he said. “They know the [speed] laws. They just choose to disobey them.”