Motorcycle, SUV collide, two injured

MONT VERNON – A Massachusetts couple was injured in a motorcycle crash Friday afternoon after colliding with an SUV at the intersection of Route 13 and Purgatory Road.

Tracy and Lisa Talbert, of Fitchburg, Mass., were traveling south on Route 13 in Mont Vernon around 2 p.m. when an SUV driven by Shirley Flowers, of Amherst, turned onto the road from Purgatory Road and into the motorcycle’s path, according to police.

Flowers and her passenger, Melanie McCoy, were uninjured, police said. The Talberts were transported to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, police said. Their conditions were not available as of press time.

A witness who had been following the couple on his Harley Davidson motorcycle since Weare said the Talberts were both wearing helmets but Lisa Talbert lost her helmet during the crash and was bleeding profusely from the head.

“We were riding southbound on Route 13, and I saw a red vehicle come from the right, pause for half a second (at the stop sign),” said Scott Chausee, 49, an air traffic controller who lives in Goffstown and was out for a pleasure ride. “(The SUV) was way into the road. It paused and kept going.”

Chausee said he didn’t know the Talberts nor did he have any idea where they were headed.

“I can guarantee you we were not speeding,” Chausee said, adding that the two motorcycles were traveling at about 30 mph, the posted speed limit.

He said the accident happened in a split second.

“(Tracy Talbert) couldn’t avoid (the SUV),” Chausee said. “He could have gone straight into (the SUV), but he dumped his bike and the vehicle went over the top of the bike. It happened so fast.”

Tracy Talbert, who did not lose his helmet, complained of a groin injury, Chausee said. Lisa Talbert was unconscious initially but came to and wanted to move, he said.

He said another passer-by called 911 while he waited with the victims.

The accident occurred around 2 p.m., stopping traffic on Route 13 for about a half hour.

By 2:45 p.m., police and fire personnel had cleared the accident scene and traffic began crawling up the hill.

Chausee was one of the last to leave the scene.

He said if he had been riding out front, instead of behind the injured couple, he is certain he would have been killed because he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

“Maybe this was my wake-up call,” he said.

Speed, drugs and alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash. Anyone with information should call Trooper Brynn Cunnighham at 672-3333, police said.