A 40-year-old Newberry man was killed Monday night when the dirt bike he was riding collided with an SUV on State Road 26 in unincorporated Alachua County, according to troopers. The crash happened around 8:30 p.m., about a half-mile west of NW 266th Street, and emergency responders pronounced the rider dead at the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating.
Crash details
According to News4JAX, the dirt bike was headed east on SR 26 when it hit the right side of an SUV that was traveling west and had started to turn left into a driveway. The Florida Highway Patrol told the station that a Ford pickup was also involved in the collision. Authorities have not yet released further identifying information about those involved.
Investigation and response
The Florida Highway Patrol responded to the scene and is handling the investigation. In fatal crashes, troopers typically work to reconstruct what happened and coordinate notifications to next of kin. For more about the agency that oversees these investigations, see the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' Florida Highway Patrol information.
Local safety context
State Road 26 has been identified in local planning documents as having left-turn conflict points and other high-injury locations. Alachua County's recent Alachua County safety action plan lists projects that focus on SR 26 corridors. Regional crash data also show that motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users face higher fatality rates on rural parts of Northeast Florida, a pattern transportation officials cite when setting priorities for engineering and enforcement efforts. Local crash fact summaries from the district traffic-safety team provide additional context on those trends.
What drivers should know
Troopers restricted lanes along SR 26 while they investigated, and drivers in the area experienced intermittent delays. Anyone who may have information about the crash is asked to call *FHP (*347) or refer to the Florida Highway Patrol's contact and crash-reporting guidance on the agency’s website.
