Whatcom motorcyclist hospitalized after early morning crash Thursday
A motorcyclist was hospitalized with injuries suffered after taking a corner too wide along South Pass Road early Thursday and tumbling off a 15-foot drop beyond the road’s shoulder.
Whatcom County Fire District 14 crews were called to the expanded traffic collision at 3:32 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in the 5400 block of South Pass Road, according to the PulsePoint app.
“It appears the motorcycle came around the curb too close to the edge and hooked the edge that drops off from the pavement to the shoulder,” District 14 chief Jerry Debruin told The Bellingham Herald.
After the bike went off the road, the rider tumbled approximately 15 feet down an embankment next to the road, DeBruin said, into a wooded area.
The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with Advanced Life Support services, Debruin said, though their injuries were not believed to be critical.
“Motorcycle crashes you just don’t always get the whole picture,” Debruin said. “Sometimes their injuries are more severe than you realize or know about. I sure hope that’s not the case this time.”
The rider was wearing leather clothing and a helmet, which Debruin said can lesson the injuries of a motorcycle crash.
“We haven’t seen a ton of crashes in that area, but we’ve definitely seen some,” Debruin said. “It’s a 90-degree corner that has a guardrail most of the way around it until the end, where it straightens out, and that’s where he went wide.”
The Bellingham Herald has asked the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office for the rider’s identity so that it can check for an update from the hospital.
