Motorcyclist killed in Smithtown crash — third death this week on Long Island
Suffolk County police at a fatal motorcycle crash at the intersection of Route 25A and Carriage House Road in Smithtown Wednesday night. Credit: Christopher Sabella
For the third time in three days a motorcyclist has been killed on Long Island roads, this time a 22-year-old man from Smithtown, Suffolk County police said.
The fatal crash occurred at about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday in Smithtown. Police said James Shellock was headed north on Route 25A on a 2007 Honda motorcycle when he was struck by a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder making a lefthand turn from westbound Carriage House Road onto Route 25A.
The 17-year-old driver of the Pathfinder was not injured, police said.
The collision was at least the eighth fatal motorcycle crash in Nassau and Suffolk since July — and the third since Monday. Many of the crashes involved a car turning in front of a motorcycle or colliding with a motorcycle.
Police investigators have said that in many of the crashes, the vehicle driver often failed to see the motorcycle they collided with.
On Tuesday a 31-year-old motorcyclist, whose identity was not immediately released pending notification of next of kin, was killed on Jericho Turnpike [Route 25] in Woodbury when he collided with a car making a lefthand turn. And on Monday another motorcyclist, Sedat Denizhan, 32, of Elmont, was killed in the same kind of crash on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park, according to police.
The latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show motorcycles accounted for just 3% of all registered vehicles in the U.S. in 2017 and just 0.6% of all miles traveled. Yet, motorcyclist fatalities occurred "nearly 27 times more frequently than passenger car occupant fatalities in motor vehicle crashes," the agency said.
Data provided by NHTSA shows that in 2017 "the most harmful event" for 3,019 — or 57% — of the 5,326 motorcyclists killed in fatal crashes were collisions with other motor vehicles and that in two-vehicle crashes 76% of the motorcycles involved "were impacted in the front" by a passenger car, light truck or truck.
In Wednesday's fatal crash, police said the car and motorcycle were impounded for safety checks.
Fourth Squad detectives are asking anyone with information regarding the fatal crash to contact them at 631-854-8452.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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