Darren Cormier couldn’t believe it when he saw the motorcycle fly past him down Gorge Road at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Cormier, a 54-year-old Times Colonist driver, was in his delivery van ,waiting to turn left onto Gorge Road from Bridge Street, when he saw the motorcycle drive by with its turn signal on.
“I was thinking — because I ride a motorcycle — ‘Man if he keeps going that speed, he’s not going to make it around that corner at Jutland,’ because that’s where I thought he was turning,” Cormier said.
As it turned out, the motorcyclist didn’t attempt a turn at Jutland Road. Nor did he make the next bend in the road.
“He went through [at Jutland] and I thought: ‘Thank God — he just forgot to turn his blinker off.’ But then he picked up more speed and I thought: ‘Oh God — does he not know there’s another corner?’ ”
Seconds later, the motorcyclist ended up crashing, apparently slamming into the abutment of the small bridge at the Galloping Goose Trail between Jutland and Washington Avenue.
Cormier arrived moments after the crash to find the man lying in a pool of blood, his bike feet away and motorcycle parts strewn all over the road.
“His bike was in an opposite laneway at the other end of the bridge and he was more or less in the middle of the bridge, toward the end of the bridge,” he said.
He parked his delivery van so the motorcyclist was protected from oncoming traffic and phoned 911.
“He wasn’t moving. There was no breathing, no moaning. His legs were the wrong way. He was busted up pretty good. There was lots of blood. It wasn’t good,” he said.
Somehow, a pedestrian who had been walking on the bridge at the time of the crash avoided being hit by debris, Cormier said.
“He was on the bridge when the guy crashed. It was horrible. I can’t believe nothing hit him. It was amazing that nothing even touched the guy.”
Cormier estimated the motorcyclist was travelling between 80 km/h and 100 km/h before the crash.
Gorge Road was closed between Washington and Jutland for several hours as police investigated the crash and drivers were advised to use an alternative route.
Police originally reported the motorcycle rider had succumbed to his injuries, but later said the man remained in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
