Fatal motorcycle crash on Calgary Trail

A motorcycle crash in south Edmonton has claimed a 25 year-old Edmonton man's life.

The man lost control of his bike at about 3:15 on Saturday afternoon, after hitting a curb while going south on the Calgary Trail off-ramp from 23rd Avenue. He was thrown from the bike, which flew over the ramp, and hit a pile of gravel before landing on a concrete barrier that separates the north and southbound lanes of Calgary Trail.

Witnesses who saw the crash called police, and CPR was performed on the man until emergency crews arrived and rushed him to hospital, where he died.

Traffic was blocked off in the area for hours as police investigated the crash. While it's still unclear whether speed was a factor in the crash, police say the tragedy signifies the importance of slowing down in construction zones.

"It's absolutely critical people do obey speed limit in and around construction zones because of the inherent danger of debris that can come from the road, workers on the road, machinery that can be popping out of nowhere," said Staff Sergeant Chris Epler. "So people have to be hyper-vigilant when they go through the construction zones, and to maintain the speed limits, otherwise it could have disastrous results as we see here."