Motorcycle crashes into vehicles, snarls traffic on Bluff Street

ST. GEORGE — Traffic was backed up more than three blocks on the northbound side of Bluff Street in St. George around noon Friday after a crash involving a motorcycle, a pickup truck and a sports utility vehicle.

Debris and gasoline litter the ground after a crash involving a motorcycle cycle, a pickup truck and an SUV on Bluff Street, St. George, Utah, April 1, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

St. George Police said a motorcycle trying to “thread the needle” between a black pickup in the left lane and a black SUV in the right lane ended up getting sandwiched. After bouncing between the two vehicles, officers said the male motorcyclist was ejected from his vehicle.

The motorcyclist was taken by ambulance to St. George Regional Hospital with injuries to his “lower extremities” that officers said were not life-threatening. But the motorcycle was a total loss. Gasoline spilled out of its punctured fuel tank adding a scent of petrol in the air that the St. George Fire Department was on hand to clean up. 

The crash, which left no injuries inside the two other vehicles, occurred around 11:45 a.m. between 200 North and 300 North, with Second Chance Auto to the right and Kneaders Bakery & Cafe to the left. The already busy stretch of north Bluff that includes the Hurst General Store and Smith’s Food and Drug was backed up for more than 300 yards. 

Initially, the crash was called in as a report of the cars hitting the motorcycle and ejecting its rider. But St.George Police Officer Scott Cleveland said that was not the case.  

“Sometimes it comes across dispatch different than what it is,” Cleveland said. “The black pickup, and the black SUV were pretty much parallel. The motorcycle tried to shoot the gap in between those two vehicles while they were moving. So he bounced off of the pickup truck, possibly bounced off of the SUV.”

The thinner motorcycles get some leeway as far as moving between vehicles and lanes. But while Cleveland said the incident remains under investigation, the Friday crash appears to be an incident wherein a motorcyclist might have gone too far. 

A damaged motorcycle is laid on to a tow truck after a crash involving the cycle, a pickup truck and an SUV on Bluff Street, St. George, Utah, April 1, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

“There was no reason for him to do that,” Cleveland said. “There’s a law called lane filtering that applies. If all vehicles are stopped, except for the motorcycle, the vehicle is able to pass in between those vehicles, as long as safe to do all the vehicles have to be stopped after we had a stop sign or stoplight. That was clearly not the case.”

There was also the unusual sight of a flatbed tow truck that usually carries much larger vehicles having to carry a motorcycle. 

The scene was cleared by 12:10 p.m., but 10 minutes after there remained a long line of cars backed up on north Bluff clear to 100 North.

This report is based on information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings. 

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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