A motorist struck a motorcyclist along 63rd Avenue East in Manatee County on Jan. 7. That morning crash left the motorcycle operator in critical condition.
The Florida Highway Patrol report in the case shows that an 18-year-old Bradenton man was driving in the westbound direction along 63rd Avenue East in the minutes before the crash occurred. The Ford Focus driver had just entered the left turn lane of that roadway as he prepared to navigate onto Parkland Drive right around 6:30 a.m.
That same police report shows that a 27-year-old Bradenton man was traveling eastbound along 63rd Avenue East at the same time. He had recently entered the left turn lane of that roadway in preparation for turning onto Parkland Drive. It’s as Ford’s driver attempted to make their left turn that they collided into the Kawasaki motorcycle.
Photographs from the crash scene show a badly battered Ford Focus stopped mid-turn in oncoming traffic. The front driver’s portion of the vehicle appears to be what made contact with the motorcyclist. The quarter panel, headlight and tire all appear to have been destroyed in the crash. The motorcycle isn’t visible in the pictures. A person’s lifeless body appears to be laying in the road behind a bus about 10 yards away though.
Police confirmed that the man did come to rest underneath a Manatee County bus after being struck. They noted that he was indeed wearing his helmet at the time of the crash. It didn’t do enough to protect the rest of his body though. Paramedics who arrived at the scene quickly rushed the man to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. It’s there that he was admitted in critical condition. The car driver walked away unscathed.
Crash scene investigators are still trying to piece together what happened in the moments leading up to the crash. A police spokesperson notes that they haven’t yet decided whether to charge the motorist in this situation with any crime.
From poor visibility to an inability to assess distance or speed, these are just two of many different reasons that motorists cite for why they crash into motorcyclists. Cars and motorcycles don’t mesh. Automobiles significantly outweigh motorcycles. This is why injuries tend to be quite serious when collisions occur. An attorney can help you recover compensation if you’ve been critically injured by a negligent motorist here in Florida.