A motorcyclist was killed on a Phoenix roadway on Sunday.
According to the Phoenix Police Department, at about 5:33 p.m., officers responded to a collision at 12th Street and Bell Road involving a motorcycle and two vehicles. Call comments indicated the motorcycle caught fire after the impact. Witnesses reported the motorcyclist was traveling westbound on Bell Road at a high rate of speed when he collided with a passenger vehicle making a left turn to northbound 12th Street.
The impact pushed that vehicle into another vehicle that was stopped for the light.
Phoenix Fire personnel transported the adult male motorcyclist to the hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased. The driver of the passenger vehicle was also transported with non-life‑threatening injuries.
“High rate of speed” & “vehicle making a left turn”, every. freak’n. time.
Not every time, obviously, but 33% of fatal motorcycle accidents involve speed (NHTSA); and what are they likely to run into? I wish I could drill this one rule into every young ride’s head before he/she threw a leg over his/her steel steed: DON’T SPEED IN TOWN!
We bikers have enough to deal with with distracted drivers, the chemically impaired, and outright idiots-on-wheels; we don’t need to put ourselves into untenable positions.
Dying doing something you love is still dying, and it still leaves a gaping hole in the hearts of friends and family. Condolences to the grieving. RIP, brother.