STAUNTON, VA : Fatal crash in Augusta Co. involving motorcycle and postal truck on Sunday, February 19th 2017

Virginia State Police are investigating a fatal accident in Augusta County, just outside of Staunton, involving a motorcycle and a postal truck.

At 4:17 p.m. Virginia State Police Trooper J.S. Martin responded to a two-vehicle crash in Augusta County. The crash occurred in the 400 block of Parkersburg Turnpike.

A U.S. Postal Service truck was traveling west on Parkersburg Turnpike, when it made a U-turn in the road and collided with an eastbound 2000 Harley-Davidson Roadster.

The motorcyclist, Bill F. Claytor Jr., 33, of Staunton was transported to Augusta Health, where he died a short time later.

The driver of the mail truck, Joseph T. Jackson, 51, also of Staunton, was not injured in the crash.

Jackson was charged with failure to yield the right of way. The crash remains under investigation.

This is the second fatal vehicle-related accident this year. In January, the area's first road fatality of 2017 took place on Eastside Highway when a Crimora woman, 57-year-old Sandra M. Seal, slammed into a propane truck, state police said. Seal died at the scene.

A total of 21 people were killed in area traffic accidents in 2016, the worst year for road fatalities in 11 years when 24 people died in 2005.

Many of last year's fatalities took place on roads in Augusta County, where 19 people died, according to Virginia State Police. Six were killed in alcohol-related wrecks, and police said nine of the victims were not wearing seat belts. Two workers were killed on U.S. 11 in July after being run over by a dump truck in Greenville. Both Staunton and Waynesboro each recorded a fatal crash.

More than 35,000 people died in traffic accidents across the nation in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In 2015, 4,693 motorcyclists died in crashes, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Motorcycle deaths accounted for 13 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths in 2015 and were more than double the number of motorcyclist deaths in 1997, the institute said.

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Fatal crash in Augusta Co. involving motorcycle and postal truck