Tragedy on I-80 in Berkeley
A Heartbreaking Reminder of How Vulnerable Riders Are
On Sunday afternoon, another rider didn’t make it home.
According to the California Highway Patrol, a fatal crash on eastbound I-80 near University Avenue in Berkeley took the life of a motorcyclist after a collision involving two other vehicles—a Honda Accord and an Acura TSX. The crash happened around 3:10 p.m. Traffic was heavy, like it always is on that stretch, and within seconds everything changed.
CHP reports that the rider was thrown over the center divider and into the westbound lanes. Despite emergency response, the rider died at the scene. As of Sunday evening, their name hadn’t been released.
Investigators don’t believe impairment played a role, but the exact cause is still under review. Three eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes were shut down for hours while CHP pieced together what happened.
When Riders Go Down, the Whole Community Feels It
If you ride in the East Bay, you know I-80. You know the constant merging, the drivers jockeying for position, the sudden braking, the distracted glances down at a phone. And if you're a rider, you also know that you don’t get the luxury of a small mistake. One moment of inattention from someone in a car can cost you everything.
Every time a crash like this happens, our hearts go out to the rider, their family, their friends, and the people who are suddenly facing a reality they never imagined. Losing someone in this way isn’t just tragic—it’s devastating. It’s unfair. And it hits our riding community hard.
Motorcyclists in California look out for each other. We wave to each other on Highway 1, on Skyline, in the canyons, and even in the thickest corridor of Bay Area traffic. That wave is small, but it means something real: I see you. Stay safe. We’re in this together.
When a rider is lost, that connection doesn’t disappear—it deepens. We carry their memory, and we carry the responsibility to keep fighting for safer roads.
Crashes Like This Don’t “Just Happen”
At McCarthy Motorcycle Law, we see these cases all the time, and they’re never “just accidents.” Something went wrong. Someone made a choice, or failed to make one. A driver wasn’t paying attention. A lane was changed too quickly. A blind spot wasn’t checked. Traffic patterns weren’t respected.
Motorcyclists get blamed too often simply because they’re on two wheels. But the truth is, most riders are doing everything they can to stay alive out there—because they have to.
That stretch of I-80 near Berkeley is notoriously chaotic. Drivers accelerate hard, brake suddenly, and weave between lanes with little awareness of who else is around them. Riders feel that danger in their bones every time they pass through. When something goes wrong in that environment, it’s almost always catastrophic for the person on the bike.
Families Deserve Answers After a Motorcycle Fatality
When a tragedy like this strikes, families are left with impossible questions:
Why did this happen?
Could it have been prevented?
Who is responsible?
How do we pick up the pieces?
The investigative process can feel cold and slow, even though CHP is doing everything they can. And meanwhile, families are grieving, overwhelmed, and unsure where to turn.
This is the hardest part of the work we do—but also the most important. Helping families get answers isn’t just about law. It’s about dignity. It’s about truth. It’s about honoring the rider’s life and making sure they’re not reduced to a line on a police report.
We Ride. We Understand. And We Fight for Riders.
Crashes like the one on I-80 are not statistics to us—they’re personal. Our firm was built by riders, for riders, and for the families who love them. Even though John no longer rides after losing loved ones to bike and motorcycle crashes, he carries that experience with him every single day when he fights for riders across California.
We understand the physics, the visibility issues, the way traffic moves, and the split-second decisions riders have to make. This isn’t abstract. This is real life, lived on real roads we know well.
And when a family loses someone, they shouldn’t have to navigate that alone.
Honoring the Rider Lost This Weekend
We don’t know the name of the rider yet. But they mattered. They had people who loved them, people waiting for them, people who are now grieving a loss too heavy to put into words.
To every California rider reading this: take a moment today to breathe, reflect, and remember why we fight so hard for each other. The spirit of the rider is independent, but connected—alone on your machine, but one with the road, one with the environment, one with the community that understands what that freedom feels like.
Hold your people close. Check in on your riding buddies. And if you lost someone in a crash—especially in something sudden and violent like this—you’re not alone. Our hearts are with you.