Published on Tuesday, March 21, 2006
in the Orlando Sentinel

Bike Week death toll rises to 21

ORMOND BEACH -- The bloodiest Bike Week on record has been over for more than a week, but the death toll continues to rise.

For the third time since the event ended March 12, the number of motorcycle deaths climbed higher Monday when a Fortville, Ind., man died of injuries from a Bike Week crash, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

That brought the record number of deaths to 21.

Louis Hinds, 57, had been hospitalized since suffering injuries in a March 11 crash, FHP said.

Troopers said a motorcycle driven by Bruce Thalheimer, 51, collided with the bike Hinds was driving on State Road 40, near Pinewoods Road, just north of Ormond Beach.

Thalheimer, of Naples, also died as a result of the head-on crash.

Thalheimer had been trying to pass a pickup that was pulling a trailer in the westbound lanes, the FHP said.

The previous high of 15 Bike Week fatalities was set in 2000.