Bike Week deaths rise to six after nearly 70 accidents

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Posted 10:28AM on Monday, March 11, 2002

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - Three people were killed in a spate of motorcycle accidents this week, including nearly 70 crashes so far this weekend, bringing the number of deaths during Bike Week to six by Saturday. The injured included four Georgia residents. Emergency workers responded to 49 motorcycle accidents on Friday and 20 more crashes by early Saturday, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance. That was the most accidents EVAC has responded to over two days at Bike Week in 21 years, he said. Two people were killed when a motorcycle collided with a sport utility vehicle in an intersection near the Daytona International Speedway at 2:40 a.m. Saturday, said O'Keefe. The man and woman riding the bike were pronounced dead at the scene, he said. Daytona Beach police did not immediately release the names of the victims, who were in their 30s, O'Keefe said. O'Keefe said he did not know if the two were wearing helmets. Meanwhile, an Indiana motorcyclist died Thursday at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach from injuries he suffered in a crash in Ormond Beach, officials said Friday. Kevin Fish, 30, wasn't wearing a helmet when he crashed into a parked pickup Monday, police said. A hometown was not immediately known, and police could not be reached for comment Saturday. In another accident, four Georgia motorcyclists were hospitalized Friday after a multiple-vehicle crash in Flagler Beach that ended with a car skidding over the dunes and onto the beach. Three of the four motorcyclists were taken to Halifax, officials said. Their names, conditions and hometowns were not immediately available Saturday. The fourth biker, Forest Hardeman, 30, of Stockbridge, Ga., was taken to Memorial Hospital-Flagler and released. A Massachusetts woman was in stable condition Saturday at Halifax, recovering from an accident Thursday in Edgewater. Brenda Hoffman, 53, of Kingston, Mass., was airlifted to the hospital after the bike she was riding on slammed into a car. Peter Hoffman, her husband, was driving the bike and was not injured. Police said neither was wearing a helmet. Bike Week started March 1 and ends Sunday.