Motorcyclist Dead After Crashing Into Concrete Barrier and Falling 30 Feet Off Bridge
Police in Oregon identified the deceased man as 27-year-old Mark Steven Sewell
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A stock image of a police carA man has died after crashing into a concrete barrier and falling 30 feet off of a bridge in Oregon, police say.
The Salem Police Department confirmed in a press release that Mark Steven Sewell, 27, was driving his motorcycle east over the Center Street Bridge in Salem on April 18 when he “lost control of the motorcycle and collided with the concrete barrier.”
“The impact vaulted the rider across the barrier and approximately 30 feet down to the ground below the bridge," police added.
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Image of the Center Street Bridge in Salem.Related: Driver Dies After Car Crashes Beneath Semi-Truck in New Jersey Parking Lot
Sewell was pronounced dead at the scene, and the southbound off ramp to Front Street was closed for more than two hours while police investigated, the department said.
Per statistics from police, this marks the ninth major traffic accident — and ninth death from a traffic collision — in Salem in 2024.
Related: Grandma, 71, Dies After Man Crashes Car into Her Apartment amid Suspected Medical Emergency
Just last week, 22-year-old David Joel Luna died in a car crash several miles away from the Center Street Bridge when his Honda collided with a Mercedes driven by an unnamed 20-year-old man at the intersection of Kuebler Boulevard Southeast and Battle Creek Road Southeast, according to local outlets KOIN and FOX 12. One of the cars hit an electricity utility box, causing power outages in the area for longer than a day.
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In March, 33-year-old Joshua Noel Guerra was also killed while driving on Kuebler Boulevard when he failed to stop at a red light and hit an SUV crossing on Liberty Road South, per reports from the Statesman Journal, KGW and FOX 12.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), traffic collisions are a leading cause of death in the U.S. for people ages 1 to 54, and a recent study from the Department of Transportation (DOT) found that 42,514 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2022.
The Salem Police department shared a warning to local drivers on its website, writing that community members can report traffic violations and request radar reading boards online.
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