A 30-year-old man was killed in a motorcycle crash on I-95 this morning shortly after sunup, just south of the intersection with Palm Coast Parkway. No other vehicles were involved, based on preliminary indications.
The crash was reported to 911 minutes after 7 a.m. by a witness in a separate vehicle. The witness reported a motorcycle on its side in the middle of the three northbound lanes of I-95, blocking traffic. The rider was not immediately visible. He was later found in the median, between the guardrails, very severely injured in many places, his helmet still on. The motorcyclist had reportedly crashed into the guardrail. He had been riding a Harley-Davidson and may, according to a witness report, have been looking at his phone.
An emergency helicopter was put on standby, but the man was pronounced dead within minutes of fire rescue personnel arriving at the scene. An empty gun holster was found near the man, but the gun itself had not been found during the morning investigation. The crash blocked two of the three lanes and by 9:45 a.m., when the medical examiner arrived from the south, the ME vehicle crawling north along the inside emergency lane, traffic had backed up several miles past State Road 100 to the south. The Florida Highway Patrol was still conducting its investigation around 10 a.m.
FHP reported the victim is a Jacksonville resident. The agency did not release his name, and has stopped releasing crash victims’ names in its crash reports.
The Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue, along with the Palm Coast Fire Police, had responded.
The crash resulted in the ninth fatality on Flagler roads this year–the lowest road-fatality total in Flagler in 27 years. In 1994, the county recorded seven fatalities. It recorded 19 last year, despite a drop in traffic due to covid, and 12 the year before. There’s been an average of 19 deaths a year on county roads in the past 10 years.
The victims in six of the nine fatalities this year have been either motorcyclists or cyclists.
Leila says
It has been a rough year and this makes most of us very sad. My prayers go out to all who loved this man. Be safe, be healthy. Let this death not go in vain. You matter, we all matter.
A.j says
Be careful out there. Another sad statistics. Very very foggy this morning. Please be careful.
Kitty Sepe says
I was behind a motocycle on Belle Terre this afternoon with a license plate that stated “under 21”. All this young man did was to swerve in and out of the lanes. I was waiting to see it someone ended up hitting him.
It is not always about the car drivers…there are many idiot motorcycle drivers.
Mark says
Something needs to be done about these
motorcycle death traps on our roads. They put all people driving real vehicles in danger. They need to be outlawed.
Ted Underhill says
Motorcycles make up 14% of all vehicle related deaths in the US annually. The majority of those deaths are caused by the people you say drive “real vehicles.” These people driving “shiny metal boxes” need to pay attention to other vehicle around them, stop driving distracted and basically remove their heads from their a$$es while on the road.
terry malloy says
It was foggy that morning when I went past the accident scene.
That accident happened in the pre dawn dark, just before daybreak.
Accidents are a chain, don’t be stupid, don’t put yourself in a bad situation.
Stop, get a cup of coffee, use the restroom, wait the weather out.
Stop and call and tell people where you are and you will be late.
Any of those inconveniences, including getting a room and taking a nap,
or better yet, checking conditions and not leaving in the first place,
are all options he, if only for a second, wished real hard he’d taken.
He can’t take any options now, he made his last choice.
Dennis says
Similar motorcycle crash 14 Jan 22 on I95 outside Palm Coast.