Fatal crash adds to motorcycle deaths

Beth Slovic

Friday, Sept. 3, 2004 | 9:40 a.m.

A 65-year-old Las Vegas man was killed Thursday morning when he was thrown off a motorcycle after hitting a fire hydrant on Pecos Road south of Tropicana Avenue, Metro Police said.

The death of Michael Macari comes on the heels of a report from the state Department of Public Safety showing the number of motorcycle fatalities in Clark County has doubled this year compared with the figure at the same time last year.

As of Sunday, when the weekly statistical report was released, crashes in Clark County had killed 18 motorcyclists so far this year. At the same point last year, that number stood at nine.

Macari was riding a 1997 Honda Shadow motorcycle south on Pecos just before 8 a.m. when he began to weave, witnesses told police.

The motorcycle jumped the curb, went onto the sidewalk, fell onto its right side and struck the fire hydrant, Detective Dennis Magill said. The man was thrown from the motorcycle and the bike continued sliding forward, hitting a large power pole.

Macari was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

This is the 87th traffic fatality in Metro's jurisdiction this year. Countywide 157 people have died in crashes so far this year.

Data published in 2002 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration using 2001 figures indicated a motorcyclist was 26 times more likely to die in a crash than a person driving an automobile.

It's too soon to tell why more motorcyclists this year compared with last year have died on Clark County roadways, said Ken Kiphart, a program administrator with the Department of Public Safety's Nevada Rider Motorcycle Safety program. Police reports on fatal crashes take a considerable amount of time to process, he said.

But one factor appears to be the simple fact that more people are buying motorcycles, he said.

In January 2001 there were 16,624 registered motorcycles in Clark County, according to the Kevin Malone, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. As of July this year that number increased nearly 40 percent to 23,155.