Motorcycle Accident on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas: A Rider's Guide

Arya Firoozmand, Esq. — Founding Partner

Local Calabasas Injury Attorney · UCLA Law

Arya Firoozmand is the founding partner at L&F Brown. He grew up in Woodland Hills — minutes from Calabasas — graduated from El Camino Real High School and UCLA Law School, and has spent his career representing injured clients across the West Valley.

Mulholland Highway is one of the most iconic motorcycle roads in Southern California. The sweeping curves through the Santa Monica Mountains south of Calabasas attract riders from across the region. It's also a road with a documented crash history - particularly at corners that demand more than casual attention, on weekends when traffic mixes slow-moving sightseers with fast-moving riders, and in sections where road surface conditions and limited runoff demand precision. If you went down on Mulholland, this guide is for the situation you're in right now.

Jurisdiction on Mulholland Highway

Mulholland Highway runs through both incorporated and unincorporated areas. Near Calabasas, the road crosses into LA County's unincorporated territory, which means LASD handles law enforcement - not LAPD. In some sections, California Highway Patrol may respond depending on how the road is classified at the specific crash location. Call 911 and let dispatch sort out who comes; what matters is that you call.

A law enforcement report is essential. Without it, establishing the specifics of the crash - road conditions, the other vehicle's position, any contributing factors like road debris or surface failures - becomes significantly harder. The report goes into either LASD or CHP records, and your attorney will know where to look for it.

Common Causes of Mulholland Highway Crashes Near Calabasas

Some are rider-caused. Some aren't. The ones that produce viable injury claims typically involve:

Oncoming vehicles crossing the centerline. This is a major hazard on Mulholland's curves. Drivers unfamiliar with the road cut corners. An oncoming car crossing into your lane on a blind curve gives you zero options. These are often clear-liability crashes with the other driver.

Road surface defects. Loose gravel, oil patches, damaged pavement, inadequate banking on corners. When road conditions are maintained by a government entity - LA County or Caltrans on certain sections of Mulholland - a dangerous condition may give rise to a government liability claim. That claim has a six-month notice deadline, far shorter than the standard two-year personal injury limit. If road conditions played a role, that needs to be investigated now.

Vehicles turning across your path from side roads or driveways. Private driveways and unmarked intersections on Mulholland can produce T-bone scenarios where a driver turns without seeing you. These are some of the most serious crashes on this road.

Failure to negotiate a curve. Single-vehicle crashes from failing to navigate a corner. These may still involve viable claims if road conditions, inadequate signage, or another driver's prior action contributed.

What to Do After a Mulholland Highway Crash Near Calabasas

If you can move, get yourself and your bike to the edge of the road. Mulholland has limited shoulder in many sections. The goal is to get out of the travel lane to avoid secondary crashes from vehicles coming around the same corners.

Call 911. Don't move your helmet until you have to - in a crash with head impact, a medical evaluation should happen before you're alone assessing your own condition. The adrenaline of a crash masks pain reliably.

Document what you can from the scene: the road surface condition, the curve geometry, the position of any other vehicles, any skid marks or debris. If another vehicle was involved, photograph it thoroughly before anything moves.

Get to West Hills Hospital and Medical Center the same day. West Hills Hospital is the closest emergency facility to the Calabasas area, at 7300 Medical Center Drive in West Hills, approximately 15 to 20 minutes from Mulholland Highway via Las Virgenes Road to the 101. Motorcycle crashes routinely produce injuries that don't announce themselves immediately - orthopedic trauma, internal injuries, closed head injuries. A same-day evaluation creates the medical record that connects your injuries to this incident.

California's Lane-Splitting Law and Your Claim

California Vehicle Code Section 21658.1 permits lane splitting under safe conditions. If you were lane splitting on the 101 before transitioning to Mulholland, that fact will come up in your claim. Lane splitting isn't illegal, but how and whether you were splitting safely at the time of the crash affects the comparative fault analysis. An attorney can help you navigate this question if it's relevant.

If you were not lane splitting and a cage driver caused the crash, your liability position is typically clean and the claim focuses on their fault and your damages.

What Compensation Is Available

Motorcycle crashes on Mulholland routinely produce serious injuries - road rash requiring skin grafts, orthopedic injuries from impact, head injuries even with a helmet, spinal trauma. Compensation includes medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, permanent disability where applicable, and property damage to your bike.

Cases from the Calabasas area are handled at the Chatsworth Courthouse. Motorcycle cases can be complicated by the "contributory negligence" assumptions that some jurors carry - a reason that having an attorney who handles motorcycle cases specifically matters.

Talk to a Calabasas motorcycle accident lawyer about what happened and what your claim is worth. Our Calabasas personal injury attorneys work on contingency - free consultation, no cost unless we recover.