Motorcyclist crashes on SR-20 after striking piece of debris in road

Written by Jeff Richards
July 12, 2020

CEDAR CITY — A motorcycle rider was seriously injured Sunday afternoon after hitting a piece of debris in the road and crashing his bike on state Route 20 in northern Iron County, police said.

A Life Flight helicopter lands to pick up an injured motorcyclist following a crash on SR-20, Iron County, Utah, July 12, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Randy Riches told Cedar City News the man was part of a group of motorcycle riders traveling eastbound along SR-20 at approximately 12:30 p.m. 

Riches said the riders were entering a curve near mile marker 9 when the incident occurred.

“There was a piece of debris in the roadway and one of the motorcyclists struck the debris, which caused the bike to go down and threw the rider off of it,” Riches said.

The injured rider, a man in his mid-40s, was initially tended to at the scene by other members of his group.

“It must’ve been some type of an organized ride, because they had two follow vehicles with them,” Riches said, adding, “I’m not sure exactly who called it in, but I think it was somebody from their party.”

A short time later, the man was treated and stabilized by Garfield County Ambulance personnel, who subsequently took him nine miles west to a location just east of Interstate 15 at Exit 95, where an Intermountain Life Flight medical helicopter landed just after 1:30 p.m. 

The man was then taken aboard the helicopter and flown to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George for treatment of injuries that were believed to be serious.

A wrecked Harley-Davidson is loaded onto a tow truck at the scene of a motorcycle crash crash at mile marker 9 of SR-20, Iron County, Utah, July 12, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

UHP investigators said the man’s injuries would have likely been much worse had he not been wearing a helmet.

“It looks like his helmet took a pretty good impact, but he didn’t show signs of any serious head trauma,” Riches reported.

Meanwhile, the bike, a blue Harley-Davidson, sustained significant damage and was towed from the scene.

Riches said the incident serves as yet another safety reminder regarding unsecured loads.

“Make sure your stuff is secured on your vehicle,” Riches said, noting that the piece of debris that the rider struck was something that “obviously came off of a vehicle, like part of a camp stove or something like that.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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