Motorcycle Test Drive Goes Wrong, Results in Death

(RepublicanView.org) – A man died in Florida while test-driving a Harley Davidson last week. A statement from Titusville Police Department said their officers arrived at the crash scene near Miracle City-Harley Davidson, where the shopper “lost control” of the 2014 motorcycle and crashed into the wall in front of an unoccupied store. Nobody else was injured during the incident, but the test driver died later the same day in hospital.

Subsequent reports identified the dead motorcyclist as 68-year-old Richard Peach from Cocoa. His precise injuries were not reported.

Fox 35 reported that Christopher Maglione, who witnessed the incident, said Mr. Peach was “going the wrong way” down a one-way street at what he estimated was about 50 mph, though police did not confirm this. A separate witness, also a motorcyclist, told local reporters that despite his love of the vehicles, there is no doubting their danger. He declared that when a person drives a car and hits another vehicle, they are likely to dent their bodywork, but a collision on a motorcycle could mean losing a leg. “There’s no protection,” he added.

Statistics appear to agree, and data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that a person is 28 times more likely to die in a motorcycle accident than in a car, and four times more likely to sustain serious injury. In 2021, the last year of available data, 83,000 motorcyclists were injured on American roads, and 36% of these involved people with no license to ride the vehicles.

Almost 6,000 people died in 2021, the highest number since recording began in 1975. Additionally, motorcycle accidents account for 14% of all traffic fatalities, with 34% of those involving speeding and 27% attributable to alcohol use.

Florida has more motorcycle accidents than any other state, with 600 recorded in 2021. California is second, with 539, and Georgia is third, with 192.

Not all states require helmets by law, but fatalities are significantly lower in those that do. There is no helmet mandate in New Hampshire, Illinois, or Iowa.