Saturday update: The Washington State Patrol last Friday identified the bicyclist who died as James M. Miller of Quilcene.
Earlier report:
DISCOVERY BAY — A 51-year-old Quilcene man died Thursday morning, soon after his bicycle was struck by a red Ford Mustang on U.S. Highway 101.
The wreck blocked both lanes of the highway about 4 miles south of Discovery Bay for 3 ½ hours.
The State Patrol is withholding the identity of the man, who was struck at about 10:35 a.m., until troopers can contact his family.
“His next of kin has not been notified,” said Trooper Krista Hedstrom, State Patrol spokeswoman.
“We have made attempts, but he apparently lives alone. We are trying to get in contact with family out of state.”
At 1:30 p.m., it was announced the man had died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been taken by helicopter.
The state Department of Transportation advised motorists to detour onto Center Valley Road and state Highway 104 to get around the closed stretch of highway until it was cleared at 2:08 p.m.
The State Patrol gave this account:
Both the car– driven by Mark F. Owens, 47, of Quilcene — and bicycle were heading north on Highway 101 at Milepost 286 near Leland Valley Road, when Owens slowed his car to pass the bicyclist.
The bicyclist veered into his path.
Owens, who was unhurt, was driving with a suspended license.
The State Patrol listed the cause of the collision as bicyclist inattention, but information on Owens will be forwarded to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office because he was driving with a suspended license, Hedstrom said.
“His license was suspended, but I am not sure for what,” she said. “The bottom line is, you shouldn’t be driving with a suspended license.”
Hedstrom said that Owens was not ticketed Thursday.
“The bicyclist did enter the roadway in front of the car,” she said. “The reason he entered into the roadway is something we probably won’t ever know.”
The bicyclist was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, and Owens was wearing a seat belt, said the State Patrol, which also determined that neither drugs nor alcohol was involved in the collision.
Hedstrom confirmed that the death is the first fatal collision for the year in Jefferson County and the second on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Lisa Marie Bird, 46, of Port Angeles, died April 30 in a high-speed crash while being pursued on Highway 101 by a State Patrol trooper in an unmarked car.
Bird died when the car she was driving swerved off the road and flew over an embankment on the highway about 10 miles west of Port Angeles.
________
Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
