Motorcyclist killed in fiery West Marin wreckGary Klien
Posted: 08/05/2009 10:02:17 PM PDT
A motorcyclist was killed Wednesday when he collided with an oncoming van in West Marin and both vehicles burst into flames, sparking a grass fire on a ranch.
The driver of the van escaped without injury.
The collision occurred at 6:15 p.m. on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road just south of the Sonoma County line. The driver of the van, 45-year-old Charles Andrew Belford, was heading south on his way home from work when he struck the northbound motorcyclist on a curve, police said.
The motorcyclist was knocked about 250 feet and landed in a ditch next to the northbound shoulder. The crushed motorcycle came to rest a few feet away. The van plowed through the fence of a nearby ranch and caught fire.
Firefighters arrived to find the van, the motorcycle and the dead motorcyclist engulfed in flames, said county fire Capt. Chris Martinelli. The fire consumed a section of dry grass around the van but did not threaten any ranch buildings.
A coroner's investigator was working to identify the motorcyclist Wednesday night.
The crash remained under investigation late Wednesday night. Belford told police he did not remember whether he had crossed into the motorcyclist's lane, or the motorcyclist had crossed into his, said Sgt. Rose Japay of the California Highway Patrol.
Japay said Belford had consumed some alcohol but was not legally intoxicated. He was not arrested.
Belford, who has a Petaluma address but lives on the Marin side of the county line, declined an interview request at the crash site.
The van belongs to Caron Climate Control, a San Rafael-based heating and air conditioning company.
The crash forced the CHP and sheriff's deputies to close Point Reyes-Petaluma Road in both directions.
The incident was the third fatal crash in West Marin in two weeks. On July 23, an 80-year-old Daly City man died when his vehicle went down an embankment off Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, not far from the site of Wednesday's crash.
On July 28, a 52-year-old Rancho Cordova man died in a rollover crash on Shoreline Highway just north of Point Reyes Station.
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Motorcyclist Killed Near Marin-Sonoma Border MARIN COUNTY The Marin County coroner's office is trying to confirm the identity of a male motorcyclist who was killed in a head-on crash in west Marin County Wednesday evening.
The California Highway Patrol reported that Charles Bedford, 45, of Petaluma, was driving a 2003 Ford E350 van south on Petaluma/Point Reyes Road, south of San Antonio Road, when the van drifted into the northbound lane and into the path of a 2008 Ducati motorcycle around 6:15 p.m.
The van and motorcycle collided and caught fire, according to the CHP. The van struck a gate and fence on the east side of the road and came to rest in a field, starting a small brush fire.
The motorcyclist was ejected and landed in a ditch east of the roadway, the CHP said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bedford suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. The accident is still under investigation.
