Motorcyclist Killed in High-Speed, Head-on Crash in Sage Identified

SAGE (CNS) – A motorcyclist killed in a high-speed, head-on collision with a pickup truck in Sage was identified Monday as a 20-year-old Marine from Camp Pendleton.

Joshua Crain was fatally injured about 9:50 a.m. Sunday on Sage Road, just north of Red Mountain Road, in the unincorporated community, which is roughly five miles south of Hemet, according to the California Highway Patrol and Riverside County Coroner’s Office.

CHP spokesman Officer Mike Lassig said Crain was driving his 2016 BMW S1100 northbound on Sage and was “traveling too fast to safely traverse a curve in the roadway.”

Lassig said it was estimated the victim was going in excess of 90 mph on the two-lane corridor.

“He lost control … causing him to slide across the painted solid double yellow lines separating the north- and southbound lanes,” the CHP spokesman said.

A 49-year-old Hemet man at the wheel of a 2011 Nissan Frontier pickup was approaching the curve going southbound at 50 mph and collided with Crain’s motorcycle head-on, Lassig said.

The pickup driver, whose name was not released, was not injured.

County fire department paramedics reached the location within 10 minutes and pronounced Crain dead at the scene.

“The CHP would like to remind all motorists to be mindful of speed while driving or riding in areas where elevation changes and roads curve,” Lassig said. “Traveling too fast will prevent the ability to slow or stop if there is an obstacle or a sharp curve ahead.”

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