Whatcom motorcyclist dies after falling from I-5 overpass onto Lakeway Drive Thursday
A Blaine motorcyclist died Thursday evening along Interstate 5 in Bellingham when he lost control and went over the Lakeway Drive overpass onto the street below. The Washington State Patrol cited his speed and aggressive driving as the reason for the fatal crash.
Nobody else was injured in the crash, though a motorist driving on Lakeway Drive was struck by the falling guardrail.
Vincent T. Englert, 37, was riding his 2003 Honda VTX1800R northbound on I-5 approaching Lakeway Drive at approximately 8:23 p.m. Thursday, June 30, according to the State Patrol report on the crash.
Englert failed to negotiate a curve in the road and drove into the median, according to the report. The motorcycle then struck a guardrail, crossed over a cement barrier and tumbled onto Lakeway Drive below.
A 2018 GMC Canyon on Lakeway Drive at the time was struck by the guardrail, but the 73-year-old Bellingham driver did not have any serious injuries, according to the release.
Englert and his motorcycle fell in between the northbound and southbound lanes of the overpass and hit the wall beneath the bridges before falling on the vehicle below, Trooper Jacob Kennett told The Bellingham Herald.
Though drugs or alcohol were not believed to be involved in the crash, the State Patrol did cite speed and aggressive driving as the cause.
Witnesses reported seeing the bike traveling at “a high rate of speed” before the crash, Kennett told The Herald.
The Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted shortly before 9 p.m. that the crash blocked the left lane of northbound I-5 and it was “likely to be closed for a while,” but by 9:43 p.m. WSDOT reported the lane was open again.
Bellingham Police also posted on Facebook that Lakeway Drive was closed while the State Patrol investigated.
The fatal crash is the eighth on Whatcom County roadways so far in 2022, according to WSDOT’s Crash Data Portal, after there were 15 crashes resulting in 18 deaths in 2021. Half of Whatcom’s fatal crashes this year (four) involved a motorcycle, after there were only two fatal motorcycle crashes last year.
This story was originally published July 1, 2022 at 7:37 AM.
