Fatal accident renews calls for no-passing zone

Published 1:30 am Friday, August 6, 2021

Residents of a Central Whidbey road that was the site of a fatal motorcycle crash last week are asking Island County officials for a no-passing zone.

The Washington State Patrol reported that Keith Warren, 64, of La Conner and a passenger, 61-year-old Catherine Loudermilk of Sonora, Calif., were riding a 1992 Harley Davidson FXR on Engle Road when Warren tried to pass three vehicles.

One of the vehicles, a 2007 Dodge Ram driven by Paul Sarkis of Freeland, slowed to turn left into a driveway. The motorcycle struck the pickup.

Warren sustained fatal injuries and died at the scene. A helicopter landed in a nearby field and airlifted Loudermilk to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. They were both wearing helmets.

Sarkis was not injured.

The State Patrol reported that the collision was caused by an unsafe pass.

In 2015, Island County commissioners agreed to reduce the speed limit from 50 mph to 35 mph on Engle Road at the request of concerned residents in the rural area.

They pointed out that traffic rushing to and from the Coupeville ferry terminal mixed dangerously with slow, cumbersome equipment from local farms.

The commissioners agreed to the change after listening to vigorous arguments during a couple of public hearings. County engineers were then tasked with doing a study to determine if the road should be a no-passing zone, but ultimately passing remained legal on the road.

Now some of the same people who argued for the speed reduction are again calling on officials to ban passing on the busy road. In addition, some residents asked for signs that more clearly direct ferry traffic on the State Highway 20 spur instead of Engle Road.