TAMPA (WFLA) — A motorcyclist and a bicyclist died after a collision on Bayshore Boulevard Saturday morning. Police said the crash occurred along the northbound lanes near S. Rome Avenue around 11 a.m.

The motorcyclist in his 30’s collided with the bicyclist in his 50’s while he tried to cross the street.

Police said the motorcyclist died at the scene while the bicyclist died later in the hospital.

TPD investigators are looking into whether speed was a factor, but a witness told 8 On Your Side he saw three motorcycles going way too fast before the deadly impact.

“I’m just as angry as anybody who witnessed it,” Russel Olinger said.

Olinger said he was cycling south on the sidewalk at the time of the crash.

“They were kind of leapfrogging, speeding, you could hear them revving their engines as they came across Howard (Ave.),” he said of the three motorcycles.

Olinger told 8 On Your Side one motorcyclist “zoomed” in front of the other two and he heard people on the sidewalk yell “slow down.”

“And you could see the motorcycle guy turn his head slightly looking at who was yelling at him is what it appeared to be, but that distraction helped him take his eyes off the road at that speed,” Olinger said.

The bicyclist had no time to react, Olinger said, as the motorcycle struck him while he tried turning into a crosswalk by S. Rome Avenue.

“How fast do you have to be going for your bike to go that far down the road after,” Olinger said. “So you know 85, 90?”

About 20 people rushed to help the two men after the collision, Olinger said.

“A lot of people didn’t realize there were two people involved, you thought it was just the motorcycle who went down,” he said.

This deadly collision comes about three months after a drunk driver crashed into the balustrade and killed 70-year-old George Gage.

Mayor Jane Castor released a statement regarding the crash Saturday evening, saying, “Right now, more than ever, we should be looking out for each other and following the law. What happened today is unacceptable… The bottom line is that today another bad decision cost lives.”

“The time is now, five deaths in two years is too many,” said Alexander Engelman from the group Take Back Bayshore.

In May 2018, a car that was street racing on Bayshore struck and killed 24-year-old Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt and her 21-month-old daughter Lillia.

Engelman said the City of Tampa should shut down some lanes on Basyhore during the weekend, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

“People need for their sanity, their health, they need a place to recreate,” Engelman said. “There’s no reason we need six lanes of divided highways for people to go to closed businesses.”

Both directions of Bayshore Boulevard in the area of the crash reopened by late Saturday afternoon after they were closed for hours while police investigated the crash.

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