TOWNSEND, Tenn. — Rangers with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park said that a man was dead after a motorcycle crash on Foothills Parkway Saturday afternoon.
They said that David Wayne Birdsong, 57, from Fairview, lost control of a motorcycle and veered into a drainage ditch. Authorities said he died from injuries as a result of the crash. No other cars were involved in the crash, and officials said they believed speed was a contributing factor.
The Blount County Sheriff's Office and American Medical Response first arrived on the scene and performed CPR. Park rangers also helped before he was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital. He was pronounced dead while being transported.
Officials said that four people have died so far this year in motorcycle accidents in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including an accident on Clingmans Dome Road and a two-passenger crash on Foothills Parkway.