Atascadero man seriously injured in crash near Santa Margarita

November 25, 2015

An Atascadero motorcyclist was seriously injured Monday afternoon in a crash with a Pontiac Grand Prix on Highway 58 near the Santa Margarita Cemetery, according to a California Highway Patrol collision report.

Alan Dunivan, 55, was passing cars at a high rate of speed as he headed eastbound on Highway 58 on a Kawasaki motorcycle, witnesses told officers. As he went over the top of a small incline, he popped a wheelie and drifted into the westbound lane into the path of a Pontiac driven by Matthew Collar of Creston.

Collar, 52, applied his brakes and drove towards the shoulder of the road in an attempt to avoid a collision. However, Dunivan’s front wheel landed back on the highway as he collided into the driver’s side of the Pontiac.

Dunivan, who was not wearing a helmet, was ejected from his bike. He suffered major head trauma and road burns over his entire body, the report said.

The Pontiac spun out, went off the highway and through a barbed wire fence at the Santa Margarita Ranch. Collar suffered minor injuries in the collision.