ST. GEORGE – A motorcycle accident last night claimed the life of a St. George man after the driver of a rental moving truck pulled out in front of the motorcycle.
Sgt. Craig Harding said Robert Crosby, 56, was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Harding said the driver of the rental truck, Robert Giacovelli who was in the process of moving to Florida, was driving northbound on Red Cliffs Drive when he pulled out in front of Crosby who was driving southbound on Red Cliffs Drive by Outback and Sunrise Tire. Harding said the driver of the truck was passing through the area and is not from St. George.
Harding said Crosby was not wearing a helmet while riding his Harley Davidson, however that would not have prevented the terminal injuries.
“His injuries were not related generally to head injuries as much as they were major trauma over many portions of his body,” Harding said.
Harding added that the St. George Police Department has been alarmed at the number of motorcycle, scooter and bicycle accidents lately.
“We need to look twice for motorcycles,” he said. “The general rise in motorcycle and scooter accidents is alarming to us. We need to have better educated drivers. Motorists need to be much more attentive to motorcycles, scooters and bicycles.”
He said he hopes those with motorcycles and scooters will take a defensive driving course. He added that he was in no way critiquing this accident or Crosby.
Last night’s accident shut down River Road until approximately 11:30 p.m. while the Accident Reconstruction Team investigated. Harding said they went out again this morning and saw more marks on the road that were not seen in the dark. He said citations for the driver of the rental truck are pending a review with city and county attorneys.
Email [email protected]
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2011, all rights reserved.
I think the police need to start enforcing right of way laws. The other day I walked about 3 miles and was almost hit two different times from people pulling into parking lots without checking to see if someone was in the cross walk . I see it with cars cutting off motorcylist and bicyclist all the time.
That’s right…blame the cops for a tragic accident. Real original. We can never get rid of crappy driving. And we all know there is always conflict with right-of-way in our town because of the difference in age demographics.
Please remember someone lost their life here and pay some respect, please. Let peace be with Robert’s family at this time…
Not just bikes in this situation , but peds in general in this town are almost overlooked completely. I think cuz we’re not a city of heavy pedestrian traffic like Vegas for example, it’s not programmed in people’s minds as much here to be alert for that activity.
Sorry, BUT it is sickening how many motorcycle fatalities their are in Saint George! Maybe dear LAW ENFORCEMENT and DA it’s time to prosecute someone for negligence! And telling a motorcyclist they should take a “defensive driving course” as part of the solution in this case and most of the others would not have saved a life in most of these cases.
People should be able to ride a bike with some amount of safety in Saint George but unfortunately can’t.
Robert had been driving a motorcycle for many, many, many years and no amount of defensive driving course could have stopped that truck driver from turning in front of him. It is a very unfortunate accident and I’m sure the truck driver feels incredibly sad. I do think we need more awareness in St. George of cyclists in general, and if you are new to a cycle-no matter the kind-taking the proper class would be helpful. Red Cliffs Drive is an awful road to turn onto or out of and attention to the traffic needs by the city would be beneficial so this does not happen again.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Robert’s family and also the driver of the truck for what he has to bear from now on.
Does anyone have funeral information for Robert? I really would like to be able to attend but can’t find any info…