AHOSKIE – For the second time in less than a week, a man in the Roanoke-Chowan area has been killed due to a motorcycle accident.

The death is also the fifth motor vehicle fatality within one week in the R-C area.

John Wayne Overton, 60, of Mathison Drive in Ahoskie, was traveling south on Firetower Road (R.P. 1108) approximately 2.2 miles north of Ahoskie on Wednesday evening when he apparently ran off the road on the right, struck a ditch and overturned.

According to First Sgt. K. P. Pitts of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Overton was thrown from his motorcycle and came to rest on the shoulder of the road.

He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Overton was transported to Roanoke-Chowan Hospital by ambulance and then to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville where he died later that night.

&uot;The (safety) laws are there for a reason. I think this is a classic example of where it definitely would have not hurt to have on a helmet,&uot; stated Pitts.

The death is the 20th motor vehicle fatality of the year for the Troop A District 2 NCHP (Bertie, Hertford and Gates counties).