Motorcycle rider killed in collision with pickup truck on Highway 9 near Saratoga

Police closed Highway 9 three miles west of Saratoga for more than two hours late Saturday afternoon following a fatal collision involving a motorcycle, pickup truck and car.

At about 4:13 p.m., a motorcycle that was heading north on the winding highway drifted over the center line in a sharp right curve near the intersection of Heather Heights Road, and collided with the driver’s side of a Honda sedan traveling south.

The rider, a man riding alone, then struck the driver’s side of a red Toyota pickup that was also traveling south behind the Honda, according to Officer Ross Lee, a CHP spokesman.

He was thrown from the motorcycle and run over by the rear wheels of the pickup truck, investigators concluded. At the time of the collision, the motorcycle was traveling at about 45 mph, Lee said, even though a 20 mph advisory sign was posted on the curve.

The accident occurred about half a mile down the hill from the junction of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 9 at Saratoga Gap in Santa Clara County near the Santa Cruz County line.

Emergency crews treated the rider at the scene, but he died from his injuries, and the Santa Clara County coroner was dispatched to the accident site.

At 7:23 p.m., the crash was cleared and CHP officers reopened the road. The coroner had no update Sunday afternoon on the identity of the motorcycle rider.

Highway 9 in that area is a rural, two-lane winding road in a heavily forested landscape near Castle Rock State Park and several Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District preserves.

On weekends, Highway 9, which connects Saratoga and Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County, is popular with motorcycle riders who ride throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains, sometimes, according to local residents, at a high rate of speed.

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