BANGOR, Maine — Motorcycle deaths in Caribou and Mercer have pushed the year’s total so far to 26, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Tuesday.
The Caribou crash claimed the life of a 40-year-old Caribou man on Monday, according to Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan.
Colin Campbell, 40, was eastbound on Route 89 when he attempted to pass another motorcycle that was turning left onto Madawaska Road, Gahagan said Tuesday.
Campbell lost control of the motorcycle, laying it down on the roadway, the chief said. The motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet and was ejected from the bike. He was taken by Caribou Fire and Ambulance to Cary Medical Center in Caribou where he later died.
Gahagan said the cause of the accident is under investigation by Caribou Officer Timothy Dubois.
Meanwhile, McCausland said, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office reported that a 60-year-old man died Sunday from injuries he received in an Aug. 30 motorcycle crash in Mercer.
The victim of that crash, which occurred on Route 2, was identified as Clifford Berry of Worcester, Massachusetts, according to www.centralmaine.com.
Those two deaths are in addition to the four people who were killed in three separate motorcycle crashes in Maine over the weekend that were investigated by state police.
Those crashes took place in Falmouth, Lebanon and Hiram. The Caribou crash Monday means that five people died on Maine roads during Labor Day weekend, all of them on motorcycles.
McCausland noted that the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety said this will be the deadliest year for motorcycle deaths since 1991, when 34 people died in motorcycle crashes.
He said both 2012 and 2009 ended with 24 motorcycle deaths each.
Twenty-six is more than twice the number of motorcycle fatalities that occurred in all of 2014.
Also killed Monday afternoon were Patrick Vaillancourt, 67, and his 64-year-old wife, Margaret of Wales, who died instantly when the motorcycle they were riding was struck by a pickup truck on Route 113 in Hiram, according to McCausland.
Bangor Daily News writer Julia Bayly contributed to this report.