WEST HARTFORD — The Quechee West Hartford Road was closed to traffic for three hours on Friday evening as emergency personnel responded to the scene of a single-vehicle motorcycle crash where a 34-year-old Hartford man was found deceased.
Police and fire personnel responded to the area of the Quechee West Hartford Road near Joe Ranger Road at 6:26 p.m. where they located a black 2001 Yamaha motorcycle off the road, down a steep incline and in trees, according to a Hartford police news release.
Quechee West Hartford Road was reopened to vehicular traffic at approximately 9:28 p.m., the news release said.
Police declined to share the identity of the deceased motorcyclist on Monday. Final determination of the cause of the crash is pending completion of an investigation, they said in the release.
Anyone with information about or who witnessed the crash is asked to contact Sgt. Simon Keeling with Hartford police at 802-295-9425.
Friday’s crash is the most recent in a series of fatal traffic incidents in the Upper Valley.
There were 39 fatal crashes in Vermont through Sept. 12, compared to 40 in the same period last year, according to Vermont State Police.
In New Hampshire, there were 57 traffic fatalities through June, compared to 53 in the same time last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Just last week, a 69-year-old man from Concord, Vt. died after the motorcycle he was driving collided with another in Newbury. The week before that, a Newbury woman riding an electric bike in nearby South Ryegate, Vt. died after colliding with a pickup truck.
Other fatal crashes this summer have happened closer to Hartford.
In early September, a 76-year-old Hartford man died after being pinned between his truck and a second vehicle at the Hartford Recycling and Waste Management Center.
During the last week of August, a 42-year-old Hartford man died after his truck partially left Red Barn Road in Quechee and collided with a tree.
Before that, at the start of August, a 35-year-old Hartford native died in a head-on collision in Hartland.
