A 52-year-old Whitehorse man died in hospital Sunday after a motorcycle accident.
The fatal collision happened near the Braeburn Lodge on the North Klondike Highway. Emile Aubichon’s motorcycle hit another driven by his travelling companion.
The police were called just before 3 p.m. and both Whitehorse and Carmacks RCMP attended the accident, said Sgt. Don Rogers.
The highway was restricted to a single lane of traffic until 6 a.m. today.
Both Harley Davidson motorcycles are being examined to determine the cause of the collision, but alcohol is not believed to be a factor, said Rogers.
Aubichon suffered serious head injuries and he died in hospital from blunt-force trauma, said Yukon’s Chief Coroner Sharon Hanley.
He was wearing a helmet.
The 60-year-old man Aubichon was travelling with was not seriously injured, said Rogers.
This fatality marks a grim start to Canada Road Safety Week, which runs until next Monday.
Here in the Yukon, there have been 92 deaths and 389 serious injuries over the last 10 years related to vehicle collisions.
“These are just numbers, but they represent a lot of pain and heartache for members of our community,” said an RCMP news release about the safety week initiative.
The week is a national project, endorsed by police, in an effort to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world by 2015. It replaces the previous 10-year plan, Road Safety Vision 2010.
Contact Roxanne Stasyszyn at roxannes@yukon-news.com