A 70-year-old Palm Coast man on a motorcycle lost his life late Saturday night, a day before the end of Bike Week, when a pick-up truck collided with his motorcycle on Belle Terre Boulevard at Finn Way, just south of State Road 100. It was the fourth fatality of Bike Week 2025 between Volusia and Flagler counties, and the second in Flagler.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 21-year-old Center Hill man was at the wheel of the pick-up truck, traveling south, with three adult passengers (31, 29 and 53, from Waldo, DeLand and Jacksonville). The motorcyclist was traveling north on Belle Terre Boulevard.
The pick-up driver made a left to get on Finn Way, “but failed to yield the right of way,” FHP’s report states, causing the motorcyclist to crash into the right side of the pick-up. The report does not detail when the victim, who was wearing a helmet, was pronounced deceased. None of the occupants of the pick-up truck were injured. The incident took place at 10:55 p.m.
Finn Way is essentially Flagler County airport’s south-side service road. It dead-ends at the airport’s control tower. Along the way, the two notable complexes are that of the National Guard’s 73,000 square foot Palm Coast Readiness Center (an armory that opened four years ago), where a handful of members of the National Guard work and many come from around the state to train, and further on, the complex of the East Flagler Mosquito Control District, which is closed on weekends.
Bike Week in Daytona Beach started on Feb. 28 and ends today. According to a Flagler County Sheriff’s release, Bike Week was expected to bring over 300,000 visitors to the two-county area. The agency responded to 93 crashes during Bike Week 2024 and conducted 717 traffic stops.
By Friday, the event had claimed three lives, including one in Flagler Beach a week ago. Fatal crashes took place in Port Orange and Ormond Beach. In Flagler County, Saturday’s crash brings the number of road fatalities to four since the beginning of the year–all taking place since last Sunday, when a vehicle crash claimed two lives within hours of the life lost in Flagler Beach.
Crisco kid says
This part of Belle Terre is extremely dangerous with speeders,
cement trucks speeding, pick up trucks going 70-80, as well
as small cars, one has to put on their turn signal at least 1 block
before their road entry to their home otherwise the high speeding
vehicles are so close that they look like they are going to crash into
you as you are slowing down to make a turn, even when there are
school buses dropping kids off and they are making their way home
these speeders continue to speed up on the vehicles that need to
make a turn down their road. SLOW THE HECK DOWN YOU IDIOTS
THERE ARE KIDS WALKING ON THE ROADS, PEOPLE WALKING
THEIR DOGS AND PEOPLE ON BIKES, then if your not going fast enough
for the idiots they honk their stupid horns to intimidate! The speed
limit needs to be adjusted, this is no longer a rural road, it should
be adjusted to 35mph, the idiots will do 50-60 anyway wth the
lower limit, there needs to be more police patrol on this road. My condolences
to the victims family, maybe this could have been avoided if the idiots
just SLOW DOWN!
Lee says
May he RIP and my sympathies to his family.
JimboXYZ says
Interesting 10 days it was, also on Saturday rival biker gangs got into a shootout on SR44 at a NSB gas station. will be interesting to see the numbers, I thought attendance was down this year for any of the events I attended. Main Street Daytona, closed for car traffic, but the lanes on A1A & Peninsula weren’t backed up for bikers to ride Main Street. Then there was the Destination Daytona area. Usually enough people crossing the street there to stop traffic. It was pretty empty with the usual police presence there for pedestrian traffic assistance to cross US-1. Maybe bikers were on a different schedule for what I observed ? A free concert at Destination Daytona Saturday night was a sparse crowd instead of the packed in covered venue.
Joey says
Staly should get his Deputies off of I95 and have them do what our taxpayer dollars pay for !!!!
NJ says
The Driver of the Truck who by his STUPID driving which KILLED a motorcycle driver MUST be Sentenced to Life in Prison! Only by during this people will learn to RESPECT motorcycle riders!
JimboXYZ says
I don’t know so much that the speed limit is > 45/50 mph from US-1 => SR-100. I get it though, a pick up truck shouldn’t turn left onto Fin Way in front of a motorcycle. That’s just a case of poor driving & FTYROW for what information we have in a news story.
At that hour (10:55 PM), there’s theoretically a headlight coming at she truck. Can’t imagine that being a case of not seeing the cyclist ? Who knows though, what if the headlight was out on the motorcycle ? Then it’s a case of a foolish motorcyclist rolling the dice they get home safely with no lights to be seen. Applying what a reasonable motorist would be able to see on a road that has no street lights with a vehicle that generally has a single headlight that defective wiring or even a burned out bulb might have created a situation. At any speed limit, it would be virtually impossible to see a motorcyclist with black leather, without a headlight. I don’t know so much that after a crash, would the headlight be functional or be able to be determined that it was functioning at the time of the collision ?
I do agree the road at peak traffic is a bad traffic situation closer to Belle Terre for backed up traffic & that 1st road for a left turn to drive North. I’ve been there for that Alfin Vision of 2050 for growth. But 10:55 PM is not peak traffic commuting, not even on a Saturday Night. Might be more at risk to hit a spooked deer attempting to cross the road at that hour than another motor vehicle. Just keeping that aspect objective & real.
Jay Tomm says
Complain at the next commission meeting!
Jay Tomm says
Everyone is always about the bikers, watch the bikers, respect the bikers….I was on 40 on Saturday getting on to 95N & these 6 ah bikes decided to cut me off while I was in the turn lane to get on 95. The 1 guy almost stopped in front of me to let the other 5 bikes in. They had ALL that time to get into the turn lane before 95. Respect the cars on the road too!
Crisco kid says
Jay Tomm: If a vehicle goes off the road because of a crash
pedestrians are going to be put at risk maybe even killed,
the idiots who are speeding close behind other cars are
not giving the drivers turning on their road enough space
and time to make the turn and as one is making a turn onto
their road there are people walking , other cars coming to
turn onto Belle Terre, its a mess!