One Killed in 710 Freeway Crash in East L.A.
Los Angeles, CA – One person died early Monday after a vehicle and a bicycle collided on the southbound 710 Freeway in East Los Angeles, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The crash was reported at 3:21 a.m. just north of Floral Drive. CHP Officer Elizabeth Kravig said at least one vehicle was involved and that a person was pronounced dead at the scene. ABC7 reported that the vehicle collided with a bicycle.
The Fatal 710 Freeway Collision
CHP issued a SigAlert at 3:52 a.m., closing the No. 2 and No. 3 southbound lanes south of the 10 Freeway while officers investigated. One lane reopened around 5:40 a.m. The identity of the person killed had not been released as of Monday morning, and CHP had not disclosed whether the driver remained at the scene or whether alcohol or speed played a role in the collision.
The 710 Freeway carries heavy commercial and commuter traffic between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the inland freeway network. Its East Los Angeles stretch sees round-the-clock truck and passenger vehicle movement, and Caltrans and the California Office of Traffic Safety have long tracked the corridor as one of the region’s busiest for both freight movement and daily commuting. Bicycle fatalities on California freeways remain rare compared with surface-street crashes, largely because bicycle traffic is prohibited on most freeway segments. When a cyclist does end up in a freeway lane, the speed differential with passing vehicles makes any collision far more likely to be fatal than one on a surface street.
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What California Law Says About Fault
Under Civil Code section 1714, every person is responsible for injury caused by a failure to exercise ordinary care, and drivers owe that duty to everyone else on the road. The California Vehicle Code separately requires drivers to pass cyclists at a safe distance and to yield the right of way when required. If a driver violated one of those provisions and the violation caused the crash, a court may apply Evidence Code section 669’s negligence-per-se doctrine, which lets a statutory violation establish a presumption of negligence.
How the bicyclist came to be on the freeway will likely shape the investigation, since freeway lanes and shoulders are not designed for bicycle traffic and CHP has not yet said how the cyclist entered the roadway. California follows a pure comparative fault rule: a victim can still recover damages even if partly at fault, with the recovery reduced by their share of responsibility. That standard applies whether the case proceeds as a personal injury claim or, because of the reported fatality, a wrongful death action under Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.60 and 377.61.
A related survival action under section 377.30 can separately recover damages the victim would have been entitled to had they survived, including pain and suffering endured before death.
Wrongful death claims in California can seek compensation for funeral and burial costs, lost financial support, and the loss of the companionship and guidance the deceased would have provided to surviving family members. If a freeway defect rather than driver conduct contributed to the crash, a separate claim against the public entity responsible for that roadway could apply under Government Code section 835, though that connection remains unconfirmed pending CHP’s investigation.
Contact J&Y Law
Families of victims in freeway collisions often face the burden of piecing together what happened from CHP reports and witness accounts before any legal claim can move forward. J&Y Law represents families across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley in wrongful death and traffic collision cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning clients pay nothing upfront and no fees unless we recover compensation.
California’s statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 generally gives families two years from the date of a fatal crash to file a wrongful death lawsuit, though evidence can disappear well before that deadline. If you lost a loved one in this crash or a similar collision, contact J&Y Law for a free case evaluation.
Call or text (877) 735-7035 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form