Published in partnership with Kermani LLP and the Los Gatan.
Anyone who rides in the Bay Area knows Alice’s Restaurant. Every weekend, hundreds of motorcyclists show up at the junction of Skyline Blvd and Highway 84 in Woodside. Ducatis, BMWs and Harley-Davidsons fill the lot. From there, two routes every local rider has on their list: Highway 9 drops through the redwoods toward Santa Cruz, and Skyline Blvd runs along the ridge at 2,000 feet with views of the ocean and the bay. Beautiful riding. Technical. And if you don’t know the roads, honestly, some of the most dangerous riding in Northern California.
At least six motorcyclists have died on Highway 9 and Skyline Blvd in the past two years. Six that we know of. California motorcycle accident lawyers handle cases on these roads regularly, but most of these crashes didn’t have to happen. Once you understand where they occur and why, you can avoid the worst of it.
Why These Roads Kill
Highway 9 runs about 35 miles from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz. Two lanes, climbing over 2,000 feet through canyons and redwood groves. Skyline Blvd (State Route 35) picks up along the ridge for another 45 miles. Both roads are narrow, and when I say narrow, I mean no guardrails on most sections and trees right at the edge of the pavement.
Start with the curves. Most of Highway 9’s turns are blind, framed by rock walls and old-growth trees. You come around a bend and there’s an oncoming car already in your lane. It happens. Private driveways open straight onto the highway, so a car can pull out from behind bushes at any point. And if you leave the pavement, there’s nothing soft to land on. Just trees and rocks.
That’s the baseline. Not even counting other drivers.
The crash record speaks for itself. In July 2025, Lisa and Ernest Latta (59 and 61) were riding a Harley near Saratoga Gap when a Tesla came head-on. Both were killed. In January 2025, four motorcycles collided near Shingle Mill Road after one rider crossed into oncoming traffic. Chain reaction. Two rushed to Valley Medical Center in critical condition.
Then September 2024. A rider on a Triumph Tiger 800 missed a curve on Skyline Blvd and went straight into a 25-foot boulder sitting right at the edge of the road. Also fatal.
CHP Santa Cruz counted 44 crash victims on Highway 9 tied to speed. Most of that is around Saratoga Gap, the intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 35. Two traffic flows merge, the descent drops into sharp turns almost immediately and riders who’ve been through it know the feeling: you crest the ridge, the road tilts down and the turns come faster than you expected.
Caltrans lowered speed limits on several sections in February 2026. Down from 35 to 30 mph, and from 30 to 25 in Ben Lomond. The official reason was collision history and road geometry, which, to be fair, is about as direct an admission as you’ll get from a state agency.
Fog, Gravel, Temperature Swings
The ridge is one of the foggiest spots in the Bay Area, and anyone who’s ridden Skyline in the evening knows how fast conditions change. Sunny and 75 °F in the valley, you climb for ten minutes, and suddenly you’re in a cloud. CHP data shows 34 crashes on Highway 9 happened between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., when the ridge is at its foggiest.
Winter makes it worse. Rain pushes gravel and branches onto the road, mudslides close sections for days. The temperature swing is real, 15 to 20 °F colder on the ridge than in Saratoga at the base. You leave in a T-shirt, and ten minutes later you’re in fog at 55 °F. Your tires don’t grip the same at that temperature, and your stopping distance stretches out more than you’d think.
Aggressive Driving on Mountain Switchbacks
California ranks first in the country for road rage. Forbes Advisor gave the state 100 out of 100 in 2024. A 2025 AAA study found 96 percent of drivers admitting to aggressive behavior behind the wheel. Ninety-six percent.
On Highway 9, you see it every weekend. A CHP Santa Cruz captain at an April 2025 town hall: “Highway 9 is not a racetrack.” Residents have been complaining for years about sport bikes taking curves at 70+ mph in a 30 zone. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office put out its own statement in July 2025: “Some riders are blowing past at 60…even 70+ MPH in a 30 MPH construction zone.”
But it goes both ways. Car drivers:
- Cut off motorcyclists
- Pass over double yellows
- Swing doors open on the shoulder
California Motorcycle Laws Worth Knowing
Helmets are mandatory under CVC § 27803. DOT-approved. If you crash without one, that goes into comparative fault and can reduce what you recover.
Lane splitting is legal here (CVC § 21658.1), and California is the only state that explicitly says so. On flat highway, fine. On a mountain switchback, squeezing between lanes is a gamble at any speed.
CVC § 22350 is the basic speed law. You’re required to ride at a speed that’s safe for actual conditions, not just the posted limit. On a wet switchback in fog, “safe” can mean 20 in a 35 zone.
California uses pure comparative negligence, so even if you’re partly at fault, your compensation gets reduced but doesn’t go to zero. You have two years from the crash to file (CCP § 335.1).
If a Crash Does Happen
Three things while you wait for an ambulance. Call 911, stay put and get your phone out. Record vehicle positions, damage, road signs, whatever the pavement looks like. On a mountain road, evidence disappears fast. The tow truck hauls the bike, Caltrans clears debris, and rain washes out skid marks. If you don’t capture it right there, it’s gone.
And don’t take the first offer from insurance. We’ve seen it over and over: the insurer pins the crash on speed, even when the real cause was loose gravel or someone else crossing the center line.
Kermani LLP represents motorcyclists across California. The consultation is free. You don’t pay unless we win.
