A man was killed in a motorcycle accident on the Bay Bridge on Friday.
A fatal motorcycle accident blocked two lanes on the upper deck of the San Francisco Bay Bridge Friday morning.
• A motorcycle traveling 70 mph crashed into the rear of a car on the 40 mph S-curve of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.
• The motorcyclist was ejected from his bike and thrown into the concrete wall on the side of the bridge. He died at the scene.
• The two occupants of the other vehicle were not injured.
The accident occurred at about 10:45 a.m., according to a report in the San Francisco Examiner.
California Highway Patrol Officer Tony Tam said the motorcyclist was traveling west on the bridge when he crashed into the rear of a Toyota sedan on the approach to the S-curve.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist was speeding at about 70 mph when he hit the car. The force of impact ejected him from his motorcycle. He was thrown against the wall on the north side of the bridge, Tam told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The motorcyclist died at the scene. Neither the driver nor the passenger in the gray Toyota Avalon was injured, Tam said.
The two right lanes were blocked while emergency workers responded to the scene, Tam said. Westbound traffic on Interstate 80 was backed up all the way to Albany, 10 miles away.
The S-Curve
The notorious S-curve was installed over Labor Day weekend two years ago to allow traffic to bypass a bridge segment undergoing replacement. The speed limit on that stretch of the bridge was lowered from 50 mph to 40 mph, but many drivers had a difficult time getting used to the slow-down.
There were 42 accidents on the curve in the first 54 days.
The most infamous was a truck accident, in which a Hayward man was killed when the big rig he was driving skidded off the S-curve and over the side of the bridge, plunging 200 feet onto Yerba Buena Island.
In response to the rash of accidents, Caltrans installed new signs, flashing lights, electronic boards that flash warnings to slow down, a higher roadside barrier, rumble strips and clearer lane striping. The problem remains, however, that traffic generally flows at least 10 mph faster than the 50 mph speed limit on the rest of the bridge and many motorists don’t slow down to 40 mph to negotiate the the turn’s sharp curves.
Motorcyclists who split lanes and pass slower traffic are particularly at risk.
San Francisco Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented motorcycle accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.
