Unusually high number of motorcycle accidents occurs over weekend

By Jessie Burchette

jburchette@salisburypost

A weekend rash of motorcycle accidents has families struggling to deal with tragedies, while others are wondering what happened.

Barry Stewart, 44, of 185 Mary Esther Lane off North Enochville Avenue, died Sunday evening from a crash on N.C. 152 at Corriher Grange Road.

His wife, Cindy Stewart, remains in Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre. She was listed in critical condition Monday night, according to a hospital spokesman.

According to the Highway Patrol, the accident occurred when a car turned into the path of the oncoming Harley-Davidson.

Lindsey Radford, 54, of Shinnville Road, Mooresville, remains in Carolinas Medical Center, where a hospital spokesman said his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious. He sustained severe head injuries.

Radford and his wife, Judy, were thrown off their Harley-Davidson Friday evening when it struck the side of a car turning into a driveway.

Judy Radford was treated at CMC and released Saturday.

From Friday afternoon to Sunday night, there were apparently a half-dozen or more motorcycle accidents scattered over the county.

The Highway Patrol was still going through reports Monday from a busy weekend. First Sgt. B.E. Hower didn't know the total number.

"I don't know how many (occurred) this weekend. We don't have this many in a week, much less a weekend," Hower said Monday.

Hower speculated the weekend crashes were a result of a combination of things — good weather, a few last celebrations before school starts and a combination of drivers doing the wrong things.

Speed played a role in at least one of the minor crashes.

A highway patrolman encountered a a biker going 125 miles per hour on N.C. 150 Friday afternoon.

After a short chase and a low-speed bump from the patrol cruiser and a foot chase and a Taser deployment, the teenager was arrested.

The Liberty Volunteer Fire Department responded to two bike crashes Friday evening.

In one, a biker waiting to turn at the intersection of Bringle Ferry Road and St. Matthews Church Road was knocked over by a car. He sustained minor injuries.

A 21-year-old biker was apparently seriously injured around 11 p.m. Friday on Bringle Ferry Road.

Darren Trexler, Liberty chief, said the driver lost control, went off the road, hit a culvert, flipped over and hit a pole in a yard near the intersection with Clark Road.

A report from the N.C. Highway Patrol was not immediately available.

Trexler said the man, whose identity was not immediately available, was transported to Rowan Regional Medical Center, but transferred to CMC in Charlotte.