Weekend motorcycle crashes make '09 deadliest

Already this year, more than twice as many people have been killed in motorcycle wrecks in South Hampton Roads than in all of 2008.

The deaths of two men in Virginia Beach during the weekend bring the total number of motorcycle fatalities in the five cities so far  this year to 13. Last year, six people died in motorcycle wrecks.  In 2007, there were 10 fatalities; in 2006, there were 7.

The deaths of Scott Allen Neill, 40, and George Michael Watts, 39, in separate crashes also marked the fourth time this year that police have investigated multiple motorcycle fatalities within a week. 

Warmer  weather tends to draw more people to their motorcycles and to the roads, said Adam Bernstein, a Virginia Beach police spokesman and motorcycle rider.

“You’ve got your hard-core riders that ride year-round, then you have most of us who are the fair-weather riders,” Bernstein said. “When it starts to warm up, you see a lot more bikes out.”

Bernstein said that along with a safety course offered at Tidewater Community College and at Bayside Harley Davidson in Portsmouth, military bases also have safety courses. He also recommends riders buy helmets certified and made by reputable companies and completely avoid alcohol before going for a ride.

“Riding the bike isn’t the hard part. The hard part is watching what everybody else is doing,” Bernstein said. “Your reaction time slows down, and reaction time is paramount on a motorcycle.”

In this weekend's fatalities:

Neill and a female passenger were riding a 2001 Harley Davidson motorcycle south in the 800 block of Daimler Drive about 6:40 p.m. Saturday when Neill drove straight on a curve, leaving the left side of the road, hitting a mailbox and then a power pole, said Officer Margie Long, a police spokeswoman. Alcohol was a factor and Neill was not wearing a helmet, she said. He died on the way to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. The passenger also was taken to a hospital where she was in stable condition. Her name was not released.

In the second crash, at 7:50 p.m. Saturday, Watts and a female passenger were riding east on Witchduck Road to the intersection with Alfriends Trail, near Sentara Bayside Hospital. The motorcycle struck a BMW sedan that had stopped at a stop sign on Alfriends at Witchduck before pulling away, seeing the motorcycle and stopping when it was struck on the driver’s side of the car, a police news release said. Watts, of Virginia Beach, died at the scene and the passenger was taken to a hospital. Her name was not released. She had broken bones and was in stable condition. Alcohol use by Watts was considered a factor in the crash. 

Staff writer Lauren King contributed to this story.