A motorcyclist was killed after he slammed into the side of a pickup truck at a busy Langley intersection early Thursday afternoon.
At about 1 p.m., the motorcycle was headed north on 232nd Street at a high rate of speed, and according to witnesses had been passing vehicles on the right shoulder, said Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the Langley RCMP.
The pickup truck was initially stopped at the corner of 72nd Avenue, facing east, on the south side of the interchange with the TransCanada Highway. When the truck pulled out into the intersection, the dirt bike slammed into the truck’s passenger side, said Marks.
The crash knocked the man’s helmet clear off and into the back of the pickup truck.
The rider, a 40-year-old Aldergrove man, was taken to hospital but was declared dead less than two hours after the crash.
Passers-by at the scene stopped and tried to give medical aid to the severely injured man.
The two people in the pickup truck were not injured, said Marks. Both stayed at the scene to help police with the investigation.
Police said the man on the bike was a prohibited driver, riding an unlicensed and uninsured dirt bike. The man was known to police, and the ownership of the bike is unknown.
It is unknown whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The driver and passenger in the pickup truck were shaken by the incident.
“The guys were in shock and very traumatized by the accident,†said Ray Koreman, a manager of stores at Valley Powerline Contracting, the company for which the men worked.
The man behind the wheel was VPC’s most highly trained driver, with a class one license allowing him to drive large trucks, who also drove heavy equipment.
Police had the benefit of multiple witnesses who saw the crash, said Marks, but they are still looking for one witness who may have been overlooked.
A short blonde woman either left the scene before police arrived, or was missed by investigators, said Marks. Police would like to speak to her and are asking her to contact the RCMP at 604-532-3200.
The RCMP’s Client and Victim Support Services were called to help those impacted by the collision, including the family of the motorcyclist. Anyone affected or traumatized by the crash can call them through the RCMP.
The Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service (ICARS) headed to Langley Thursday to help with the reconstruction of events.
The intersection was closed for much of Thursday afternoon while the investigation took place.