Fatal motorcycle accidents: Bike drivers in London and Elgin County dead after two weekend crashes
Steven Medeiros loved riding around London on his orange and green Ninja Turtle-themed motorcycle and matching helmet.
The 30-year-old’s YouTube channel featured videos of him and fellow motorcycle enthusiasts cruising the city, often popping wheelies and weaving through traffic.
In many of the videos, shot on Medeiros’ helmet camera, he calls out motorists for unsafe driving habits.
Medeiros tells his online audience why he loves riding his motorcycle, saying it lets him feel free and forget about everything else.
He laments the nearing end of the riding season in his final video, uploaded Sept. 1.
Less than three weeks later, Medeiros was killed after his brightly coloured motorcycle collided with an SUV in east London.
Ross Gibson was working Sunday in the yard of his home on St. Julien Street when he said he heard a motorcycle’s engine revving, followed by a loud bang at 5:45 p.m.
He and a friend rushed to the intersection at Hamilton Road, where Gibson said he saw a man lying in the street and a woman screaming hysterically.
“She was yelling, ‘I didn’t see him, I didn’t see him,’ ” Gibson said of the woman.
Gibson said his friend, a retired nurse, performed CPR on the motorcyclist until paramedics arrived.
The motorcyclist died at the scene, said police, who didn’t release any other details.
Though investigators haven’t released the motorcyclist’s name, friends identified Medeiros as the victim.
Medeiros worked at Ellis Don and had recently bought a house in London with his new wife, said Paula Pacheco, whose son, Randy, was a childhood friend of Medeiros.
“He was a hard-working kid,” Pacheco said Monday. “Today, I’m sick (with grief).”
A makeshift memorial was erected on the southwest corner where Medeiros was thrown from the crash. Friends gathered there Monday night to light candles and place flowers.
The weekend crash — the 23rd of the year involving a motorcycle in London — happened just hours before another deadly crash southeast of the city.
A motorcyclist died after colliding with a van full of teens at Richmond Road and Vienna Line near Port Burwell at 8:37 p.m., Elgin OPP said.
John Masales, 41, of Bayham Township died at the scene and his passenger suffered life-threatening injuries.
The van driver, an 18-year-old female, and three passengers, aged 16, 17 and 18, were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
The crash is under investigation.
Thirty-three motorcyclists have died on OPP-patrolled roads this year, up from 31 in 2015, said Sgt. Dave Rektor, adding more than half of the deaths have happened in Southwestern Ontario.
“It’s our worst year ever,” Rektor said.
A former motorcyclist, Rektor urged riders to complete safety courses and be extra vigilant on the road.
“It’s about being seen and making eye contact with other drivers to make sure they know what they’re doing. You can’t take chances . . . because even when you’re right you lose on a motorcycle,” he said. “You have to be twice as careful as a car driver.”
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Source: Friends, kin mourn avid biker after deadly crash | The London Free Press
