Friends and family of a 25-year-old Vista woman killed in an off-road collision last year are organizing a second annual safety awareness ride in Ocotillo Wells on Saturday.
The ride, called Megan’s Legacy in honor of Megan Marie Lopez, will be held in the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Participants driving off-road vehicles or riding motorcycles are asked to arrive by 1:30 p.m.
Lopez was newly engaged and months from graduating from Cal State San Marcos when she died Jan. 29, 2022. She had been riding her motorcycle when she collided head-on with a four-wheeled Polaris known as a side-by-side on a graded dirt road.
Megan Marie Lopez
(Courtesy photo from Lopez family)
Between 2018 and 2022, the number of people visiting the Ocotillo Wells area managed by the state grew from 370,333 to more than 1.7 million. During that same period, there were seven fatal crashes, according to California State Parks records.
Megan’s mother, Carrie Lopez, has been pushing for mandatory training for drivers of some off-road vehicles.
Her family erected a memorial cross near where Megan died. Lopez said parks officials recently told her they plan to remove the cross.
Lopez hopes they’ll reconsider.
“We have had so many reaching out to us and thanking us for having it there because it reminds them, makes them think, opens their eyes to the fact that this could happen to anybody,” she said in an email. “It reminds them that they need to be aware of others.”
