LAKE STEVENS — For the third time in less than a month, a motorcyclist was killed in a traffic accident on a Snohomish County highway Tuesday night.
A 26-year-old Snohomish man died at the scene of the collision with a pickup truck in the westbound lane of Highway 92 at the intersection of 127th Drive NE, according to the Washington State Patrol. The accident, which occurred about 6:30 p.m., was just inside Lake Stevens city limits.
The accident victim’s name was not released Tuesday night pending notification of his family.
A 62-year-old Snohomish man who drove the pickup and his passenger were not injured, troopers said.
Trooper Keith Leary said the pickup driver was making an improper left turn onto Highway 92 when the collision occurred. The intersection off of 127th Drive NE is right turn only, he said.
“There is paint on the roadway and a right-turn-only sign under the stop sign,” he said. “It was marked very clearly.”
Traffic on Highway 92, which connects Granite Falls to Highway 9, was blocked in both directions. The highway was reopened about 9:15 p.m.
Leary said he believes the sunny summer weather and high gas prices are leading more people to drive motorcycles and that both motorcycle riders and car drivers need to be extra careful.
“If somebody does do something wrong, they have to be able to react to that,” Leary said. “Our main message is we have to stay focused on our driving 100 percent of the time.”
Tuesday’s mishap came just four days after a Monroe motorcycle rider died in an accident.
On Saturday, Michael Wallace, 50, was killed while riding his motorcycle along U.S. 2 near Index.
The accident occurred while Wallace was riding with friends from church. A Monroe couple was waiting to make a left-hand turn off U.S. 2 when a Seattle man, 80, rear-ended their car with his pickup, pushing it into Wallace’s path, according to the State Patrol.
On June 30, a motorcycle driver and a 17-year-old high school student were killed when his bike collided with the Pontiac Grand Am she was driving at Tualco Road and Highway 203 a few miles south of Monroe. The force of the collision flipped the car over.
The driver of the motorcycle, Thomas Walter Devine, 44, of Newcastle, died at the scene. Myka Campbell, a student at Marysville Mountain View High School, died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle that night.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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