The scene of the accident on L.B. Scott Road, an hour after the motorbike collided with the car.
PHILIPSBURG--An accident on L.B. Scott Road on the evening of August 25 took the life of a 37-year-old St. Maartener born and raised in Simpson Bay, where he lived and worked.
J.P. was coming from South Reward on his motorbike around 7:00pm, driving toward town, when a white SUV on the other side of the road suddenly turned left to cross the road towards the entrance to the football field at Emilio Wilson Park. P. could not avoid the car and slammed into the front door on the passenger side.
P. was wearing a helmet, but this did not protect him from being fatally injured. For bystanders, it was immediately clear that P. was in respiratory distress, presumably due to a ruptured lung. The ambulance arrived after about 20 minutes.
The victim was the owner of a car wash in Simpson Bay. Colleagues who had rushed to the scene of the accident watched as P. was hoisted onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. He died in St. Maarten Medical Center half an hour later.
P.'s motorbike caught fire shortly after the collision and the fire brigade had to extinguish the fire.
The driver of the SUV remained unharmed.
The fatal accident is the sixth accident in a week involving a motorbike. Three riders of motorbikes had accidents last Friday and two accidents were recorded last Sunday. None of the bikers were seriously injured in these five accidents.
