CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Three people are dead and a CCPD officer was left injured after three motorcycle accidents happened in less than a week all in Corpus Christi.
KRIS 6 News reporter Tony Jaramillo spoke with Rickey Dailey, the public information officer for the Corpus Christi district for TxDOT. Dailey told KRIS 6 News these deaths are on the rise.
"Deadly crashes involving motorcyclists happen every day in Texas and the number of people killed is rising," Dailey said.
In fact, according to TxDOT, nearly 600 people were killed in motorcycle crashes in Texas last year. That's up 7 percent from the year before.
So what about the Coastal Bend? The TxDOT Corpus Christi district which covers 10 nearby counties, reported 191 motorcyclist-related traffic crashes and 14 deaths in 2023.
"I think the crashes that we’ve had in the city and we’ve had too many recently, were driver inattention, speed, and alcohol was involved," Dailey said.
Corpus Christi Police have responded to three motorcycle related crashes in the last week.
On May 17. a 21-year-old motorcyclist died while driving on SPID. Investigators say speed was a factor.
On May 19. an intoxicated driver failed to yield at the Airline and SPID striking a couple on a motorcycle and both died from the crash.
And on May 21. an officer on a motorcycle was struck while escorting a funeral procession. Police tell us the driver who hit the officer illegally cut through when it happened.
"All of these factors are preventable. Slow down. Put down your phone, focus only on the road, look twice for motorcycles," Dailey said.
We also spoke with Danny Clark, an experienced motorcyclist and President of Dynamo Cycle for advice for fellow riders.
"Keep your head on a swivel, ride like you’re invisible, bike maintenance is huge one, wearing the proper gear helps," Clark said.
He also said these motorcyclists have community and families, making it important for everyone to stay safe on the road.
"We’re a community so we know a lot of these people. So it’s not it’s somebody's friend, it’s people we know. So it’s a big community, and we're always worried about others safety," Clark said.
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