6 bikers killed, 88 sent to Halifax Health trauma center

Bike Week 2022 ended with six bikers killed in Volusia and St. Johns counties and another 88 seriously injured and taken to the trauma center at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, a hospital spokesman said on Tuesday.

Overall, Halifax Health attended to 163 trauma patients during Bike Week, but 75 of those resulted from incidents other than motorcycle accidents, said John Guthrie, Halifax Health spokesman.

Bike Week this year ran March 4-13.

In 2021, eight bikers were killed during Bike Week, making it a “record-breaking week, unfortunately,” Guthrie said at the time. Another 91 bikers suffered traumatic injuries during that event.

The number of fatalities this year matched 2020 numbers when six bikers lost their lives.

Weather played a role

Guthrie said the weather at the beginning of the event played a role in the number of injuries.

“People were really more active this year because of the beautiful weather, so we would have had traumas anyway,” Guthrie said. “But the 88 motorcycle trauma calls added to it.”

Most of the bikers brought to the trauma unit, 43, were from out of state, according to Halifax Health.

Volusia County riders accounted for 24 of those injured.

No bikers died at the hospital this year, Guthrie said.

FHP worked 28 crashes in Volusia County

According to Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Kim Montes, that agency worked 28 motorcycle crashes in Volusia County. Of those, two resulted in fatalities where 3 people were killed, Montes said.

Figures released by the Florida Highway Patrol on Tuesday were preliminary and could possibly change when the agency is finished compiling data, Montes said.

FHP worked the first two fatalities for Bike Week on March 5. A car driven by an Orlando man drifted into the wrong lane on West New York and Eau Claire avenues near DeLand.

Story continues

The car plowed into two motorcycles, killing the driver and passenger of one and seriously injuring the rider of the second motorcycle, troopers said.

Then on March 9, troopers were called to Pioneer Trail near New Smyrna Beach where a deputy came upon a motorcycle that ran off the road. Troopers said the motorcycle struck a culvert and ejected the rider into the bushes where he died.

On March 7, Port Orange police worked the third biker death in a crash on Dunlawton Avenue near Taylor Road. That same day, troopers said a Palm Coast man was killed in St Johns County.

And on Sunday, March 13, the last day of Bike Week, Daytona police worked the fifth motorcycle fatality in Volusia County, when a New Smyrna Beach man was killed at the intersection of Ridgewood and Mason avenues when his motorcycle crashed into a pickup, police said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Bike Week 2022 left six bikers dead, 88 sent to Halifax Health