Flagler Beach Motorcyclist Dies on U.S. 1 in Early Morning Crash, 8th Biker Fatality of the Year in County

A 32-year-old Flagler Beach man was killed in a motorcycle crash early the morning of Christmas Eve on U.S. 1, south of Belle Terre Boulevard, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The man was traveling south when he “collided with a piece of debris in the roadway,” and was ejected from the motorcycle after it wobbled and he lost control, the FHP report states. The motorcycle, unidentified in the FHP report, crashed into a tree. The victim tumbled on the roadway.

The crash was reported to Flagler County 911 by a passerby at 12:40 .m., according to dispatch notes. The caller reported that the biker, who was wearing a helmet, had been severely injured and did not appear to be moving or breathing.

A Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy arrived at the scene less than four minutes after the original call to 911 and reported to the dispatch center that the biker had not survived.

A traffic video clip confirmed that no other vehicle was involved at the time of the crash, as the clip showed the biker passing the intersection of Belle Terre Boulevard and U.S. 1 by himself at 12:37 a.m. The roadway past the intersection is not lit.

The southbound lanes of U.S. 1 were shut down for several hours as the Florida Highway Patrol conducted its investigation.

The crash resulted in the 18th road fatality in Flagler County or its cities this year, eight of them motorcyclists, tying the number of motorcycle fatalities in 2022, where there were 24 road fatalities overall in the county. In all of last year, there were 14 road fatalities in the county, three of them motorcyclists. According to the state’s Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles division, there have been over 1,400 crashes on Flagler County roads this year, half of them resulting in injuries, 63 of them involving motorcycles.