Several fatal crashes in Tampa Bay area Friday night
There were three fatal traffic accidents around the Tampa Bay area on Friday, leaving a motorcyclist, a sedan passenger and a driver near Clearwater Mall dead in separate crashes.
In Plant City, about 6:20 p.m., a 64-year-old Seffner man was driving a Dodge Dakota pickup truck north on Turkey Creek Road when, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, he turned left onto State Road 60 and into the path of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle heading in the opposite direction.
The motorcycle rider, a 31-year-old Mulberry man, died at the scene.
The driver of the pickup truck was not injured. No other details were immediately available.
At about the same time Friday in Pasco County, a head-on collision in Dade City left one person dead and two others injured.
Troopers reported that at around 6:19 p.m. Friday two vehicles collided on Bellamy Brothers Boulevard near Miller Road in Dade City. Reports said a northbound Chevy Malibu, driven by a 38-year-old Spring Hill woman, crossed the center line and collided with a southbound Chrysler Town & Country. The impact caused the Malibu to spin out and come to rest in the southbound lanes, while the minivan overturned onto the shoulder.
A passenger in the Malibu, a 34-year-old Hudson man, died at the scene, troopers said. The driver of the Malibu suffered serious injuries. The driver of the Town & Country, a 39-year-old Dade City man, sustained minor injuries.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
In Clearwater, a section of U.S. 19 near Clearwater Mall was shut down for several hours Friday afternoon after a 71-year-old man died as a result of injuries at a crash at a busy section of U.S. 19 near Seville Boulevard.
The other motorist involved in the noon-time crash was taken to a nearby hospital, Clearwater police reported. Police shut down U.S. 19 and diverted traffic to the northbound access road at Seville Boulevard to conduct an investigation. The road reopened by 5 p.m.
No other details were released on the crash.
