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Clearwater Florida Accident Blog

Motorcycle Accidents

7/16/2008
Jim Dodson
Comments (1)

Another Motorcycle Fatality in Pinellas County

On Monday, July 14, 2008, another Pinellas County motorcycle rider lost his life in a traffic crash. According to the St. Petersburg Times, a young man, Mario Lutchman, of Pinellas Park died when his bike struck the rear of a pickup truck at the intersection of 49^th Street, a main north/south artery in Pinellas County, and 62^nd Avenue North.

A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol stated that the pick up truck was making a left hand turn at the intersection. As the motorcycle approached the truck, the driver laid down the bike, and the driver was ejected from the bike. The motorcycle proceeded to lodge itself in the truck’s undercarriage where the motorcycle eventually caught fire burning both vehicles.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has reported a steady increase in motorcycle fatalities and an increase in the number of motorcyclists on the road. Recognizing the increased danger to motorcyclists, the DHSMV has launched a new educational campaign, “Ride Proud, Ride Loud.”

Labels:motorcycle accident attorney,motorcycle fatality lawyer,

Comments

First, I want to say that, as the aunt of this young man's girlfriend, this was truly hard for Mario's friends and family to accept. All media reports seemed to point their fingers solely at Mario, while the driver of the truck received sympathy from the public. What I don't understand about this is, if the truck driver "saw" Mario approaching the intersection and he was pulling a trailer, why couldn't he just wait for Mario to clear the intersection? Witnesses say he was going "at least 80 mph". While I'm sure he was going above the speed limit, I find it hard to believe it was double. Mario ALWAYS wore a helmet and his mission in life was to save others (he was an EMT).

I understand comparative fault (I've been a paralegal in the PI field for over 10 years), but it seems in this case that Mario is taking all the blame and it's just so sad. His friends and family are sitting back, helpless, trying to save what's left of his name. The bloggers out there are cruel. What they fail to realize is that these bikes were made to go fast. The manufacturers know that the young men and women that drive them will be going fast and they are built to do just that. Nothing is going to change that. The public knows that these young people drive them fast. You hear them all commenting with "I see it all the time... they come flying by me... etc." Then why can't some of the drivers of these cars and trucks drive a little more defensivley and ASSUME the motorcycle will be going fast and that the reaction time for that bike is going to be far greater than what it will be for them? Education is a start, but what we, as the "other drivers" on the road need to accept is that if the government is going to allow motorcycles with the capability of going as fast as some of them do, then we need to be aware of their presence and be prepared for them to be speeding. There is NO place so important that any of us needs to get to that we can't wait the extra few seconds to let them proceed through the intersection.

Posted by Jodi Sisterman on July 26, 2008 at 04:05 PM