Washington Motorcyclist Dies After Crash North of Tonopah

An early-morning motorcycle crash on State Route 376 north of Tonopah ended with the death of a 72-year-old Washington rider after his bike left the travel lane, struck the dirt shoulder and overturned near Nye County mile marker 10.

Nevada Highway Patrol troopers responded at about 5:30 a.m. on April 21 to the crash scene roughly 15 miles north of Tonopah. Investigators said the blue KYMC motorcycle was traveling northbound on SR-376 when it failed to maintain its lane, entered the right dirt shoulder, became unstable and overturned. The rider was ejected, and the motorcycle came to rest on its left side on the shoulder.

The rider was identified as Leslie Leigh French of Camas, Washington. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a regional trauma center, where he died on May 3.

The crash remains under investigation by the Nevada Highway Patrol Major Incident Reconstruction Team. That review will center on how the motorcycle drifted out of its lane before dawn on a highway stretch where even a brief loss of control can have devastating consequences. The sequence described by troopers, a lane departure, shoulder runoff and overturn, is the kind of crash pattern that can point investigators toward speed, fatigue, visibility, roadway edge conditions or rider error, but officials have not said yet what caused this one.

The fatality adds another deadly mark to the long miles of State Route 376 outside Tonopah, where drivers can encounter darkness, sparse traffic and a limited margin for mistake in the early morning hours. For investigators, the key question is why the motorcycle left the lane in the first place and whether anything on the roadway helped turn a single deviation into a fatal crash.

Anyone who witnessed the wreck or has information is asked to contact the NHP Elko Office at (775) 753-1111 or ncemirt@dps.state.nv.us.