A motorcyclist who was killed when he clipped a guardrail while trying to exit the Riverside (91) Freeway, causing him to be catapulted onto the pavement, was identified Wednesday as a 40-year-old Riverside resident.
Joshua Lee Jones was killed about 2:25 p.m. Tuesday on the eastbound 91 at the off-ramp to University Avenue in downtown Riverside.
According to California Highway Patrol Officer Dan Olivas, Jones was riding his red 2006 Suzuki motorcycle at an unknown speed in the No. 3 lane when he tried to make a sharp right turn toward the University Avenue exit and struck the guardrail at the gore point separating the exit from the freeway’s slow lane.
“The rider was fully ejected and fell to the roadway as the motorcycle continued traveling eastbound on the off-ramp,” Olivas said.
He said the bike ended up coming to rest back on the freeway, while Jones rolled into bushes alongside the freeway shoulder, where he was pronounced dead by Riverside Fire Department paramedics.
The University Avenue exit ramp was closed for more than three hours while CHP officers and coroner’s officials conducted a preliminary investigation, snarling rush-hour traffic.