WASHINGTON — One motorcyclist was killed and another seriously injured in unrelated crashes this week in Fairfax County.
Fairfax County police say that Jonathan W. Wright, 25 of Dumfries, died Monday from injuries he suffered in an afternoon crash on Va. Route 123 at Clifton Road in the Fairfax Station area.
Police say Wright hit the back end of a box truck. He was thrown from his Ducati motorcycle and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Investigators believe that Wright and a second motorcyclist were speeding southbound toward the intersection with Clifton Road as the truck made a left turn from the northbound lanes, crossing into the path of the two riders.
The second motorcyclist was able to avoid the truck and continued traveling. No one else was injured, police say.
Sunday afternoon, a 24-year-old Herndon man was badly injured near Great Falls. The man was riding a Suzuki motorcycle east on River Bend Road and tried to pass another vehicle by crossing the double yellow line at the top of a hill.
The Suzuki collided with an oncoming Toyota Rav 4.
The injured rider was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police say.
The driver of the Toyota was not injured.
Fairfax County has among the highest rates of fatal motorcycle crashes in the region, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Twenty-five bikers died in the county from 2009 to 2013.
Motorcycle crashes tend to rise in the spring as more riders hit the road to enjoy the comfortable weather.
