BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The first weekend of August turned deadly for motorcyclists across the Lehigh Valley, with three fatal crashes reported in Northampton and Lehigh counties.
In Northampton County, Coroner Zachary R. Lysek late Sunday identified Teddy Elphick, 54, of Pen Argyl, as the victim of a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in East Bangor.
Elphick, who was the operator and sole occupant of the bike, was killed Saturday when his motorcycle crashed in the 200 block of East Central Avenue, Lysek said.
Lysek said Elphick died from multiple blunt-force injuries and his death was ruled an accident.
Two fatal crashes in Lehigh County
Meanwhile, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio confirmed fatalities in two motorcycle crashes Sunday, Aug. 3.
Stanley Aviles-Espaillat, a 25-year-old Allentown man, was fatally injured when his motorcycle collided with a car in the 300 block of West Tilghman Street in the city about 3:20 a.m., Buglio said in a release.
Aviles-Espaillat was pronounced dead at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg a few hours later. The coroner said he delayed releasing his name to allow his family to grieve.
Allentown police said a review of city cameras in the area showed the motorcyclist traveling eastbound on Tilghman Street at a high speed.
The driver of the car was making a U-turn on Tilghman Street when the motorcyclist crossed into the opposite lane of travel and hit the car, a release said.
Later Sunday, about 11:15 a.m., Buglio said, authorities also responded to a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 78 East near mile marker 58.9 in Salisbury Township.
Buglio said an adult male motorcyclist was found lying on the roadway following a collision with an SUV and a tractor-trailer.
Gavin Long, 20, of Middle Paxton Township in Dauphin County, was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to state police, Long attempted to change lanes but failed to ascertain the distance between his motorcycle and a Cadillac Escalade, striking the SUV and triggering the fatal wreck.
Buglio ruled both deaths to be accidents.
All three crashes remain under investigation by local police departments, state police and county district attorney’s offices.
Crash statistics
According to the National Safety Council, although motorcycles make up only 3% of all registered vehicles and 0.6% of all vehicle miles traveled in the United States, motorcyclists accounted for 15.5% of all traffic fatalities and 3.4% of all injuries in 2023 — the latest year for which comprehensive statistics were available.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the motorcyclist fatality rate was nearly 28 times as high as the passenger car occupant fatality rate in traffic crashes, with 31.39 motorcyclist fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2023, compared with 1.13 passenger car occupant fatalities.
In Pennsylvania, there were 3,292 motorcycle crashes reported in 2024, resulting in 219 fatalities, according to the state Department of Transportation.
It was a slight decrease from 2023, when there were 3,424 crashes and 238 fatalities.
Licensed motorcyclists have decreased year-to-year in Pennsylvania for at least a decade, according to PennDOT. In 2014, there were 861,077 licensed motorcyclists in the state, but in 2024 that number had fallen to 787,889.
