{"id":25848,"date":"2025-12-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=25848"},"modified":"2025-12-30T07:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:09:01","slug":"sanford-woman-dies-after-falling-asleep-on-motorcycle-driver-ricardo-bernal-arrested-in-volusia-county-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/sanford-woman-dies-after-falling-asleep-on-motorcycle-driver-ricardo-bernal-arrested-in-volusia-county-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanford Woman Dies After Falling Asleep on Motorcycle; Driver Ricardo Bernal Arrested in Volusia County Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla.<\/strong> \u2014 A 34\u2011year\u2011old Sanford woman died Friday afternoon after falling off a motorcycle on Interstate 95 in Volusia County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers say the woman, whose name has not been released, fell asleep while riding as a passenger before losing her balance and striking a guardrail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Crashed Motorcycle of Ricardo Bernal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The crash happened around 2 p.m. on Dec. 26 on northbound I\u201195 near mile marker 235, just south of W. Halifax Road. The woman was riding on the back of a 2003 Harley\u2011Davidson Dyna Wide Glide when she fell from the motorcycle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motorcycle\u2019s operator, Ricardo Lazaro Bernal, 45, of Sanford, was not injured and pulled over immediately after the woman fell, troopers said. Neither rider was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernal was arrested and booked into the Volusia County Jail on charges of driving with a revoked license resulting in death and operating a motorcycle without a motorcycle endorsement. The Florida Highway Patrol identified him as a Habitual Traffic Offender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crash involved no other vehicles. The Florida Highway Patrol continues to investigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Similar Incidents Involving Riders Falling Asleep on Motorcycles<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

While rare, law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have documented cases where riders or passengers fell asleep on moving motorcycles, often with serious consequences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 2023 \u2013 California<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A man traveling on Interstate 5 reportedly nodded off while riding home from an overnight shift. He drifted across lanes before crashing into a median. He survived with injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 2021 \u2013 Texas<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A passenger on a cruiser\u2011style motorcycle fell asleep during a long highway ride and slipped off the back of the bike. She suffered non\u2011fatal injuries. The driver told investigators they had been riding for several hours without stopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 2019 \u2013 Georgia<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A motorcyclist on a rural highway fell asleep after working a double shift, according to the sheriff\u2019s office. The bike veered off the road and overturned. The rider survived but was hospitalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 International Example \u2013 Japan (2018)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Police reported a case where a long\u2011distance rider fell asleep during an overnight ride and collided with a guardrail. Fatigue was listed as the primary factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These incidents highlight how fatigue can be just as dangerous on a motorcycle as impairment or speeding, especially during long rides, warm weather, or after extended work shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 34\u2011year\u2011old Sanford woman died Friday afternoon after falling off a motorcycle on Interstate 95 in Volusia County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5,18],"tags":[3273,3277,3274,3271,3267,3268,3276,3265,3275,3266,3278,3269,3272,3270],"class_list":["post-25848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-lifestyle","tag-breaking-news-florida","tag-florida-highway-patrol","tag-florida-motorcycle-accident","tag-florida-road-fatalities","tag-habitual-traffic-offender","tag-harley-davidson-crash","tag-i-95-fatal-crash","tag-motorcycle-passenger-death","tag-ricardo-bernal","tag-sanford-florida","tag-sanford-woman-killed","tag-volusia-county-motorcycle-crash","tag-volusia-county-news","tag-woman-falls-asleep-on-motorcycle"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-30-at-00-56-34-Facebook.png?fit=680%2C498&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25851,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions\/25851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}