A wrong-way crash on the eastbound 91 Freeway near University Avenue in Riverside left one person dead and two others injured Sunday morning, September 6, 2026, pressenterprise.com reported. The collision happened around 9:30 a.m. when a vehicle traveling against traffic slammed into oncoming vehicles in the carpool lane, according to authorities. Emergency crews shut down several eastbound lanes while they worked the scene, backing up traffic for hours before the freeway reopened Sunday afternoon. The California Highway Patrol is investigating how the vehicle ended up driving the wrong way on the freeway.
According to MyNewsLA.com, which cited a California Highway Patrol incident log, the wrong-way vehicle allegedly caused the multi-vehicle crash, though the outlet reported that the exact number of vehicles involved was still unclear at the time. A separate CHP fatal-collision bulletin identified the wrong-way vehicle as a tan box truck that was traveling westbound in the eastbound carpool lane when it collided head-on with oncoming traffic near University Avenue. No names have been released, and it remains unclear whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash. CHP is asking anyone who witnessed the collision to come forward.