2 Honda Employees Killed Testing Motorcycle
Two Honda Motor Co. employees were killed Wednesday afternoon evaluating a motorcycle prototype, the company said Thursday.
The accident occurred about 2 p.m. at the Willow Springs Raceway near Rosamond in Kern County.
It was still unclear Thursday exactly how the accident occurred. Authorities are investigating.
Honda spokesman Peter terHorst identified the men as Dirk R. Vandenberg, 48, of Mission Viejo, who was the manager of product evaluation, and Josef Boyd, 49, a Redondo Beach engineer.
One man was making a routine test run of the vehicle when he lost control and struck the other man, who was photographing the test, terHorst said.
Both were taken to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, where they later died.
Company officials said they could not yet confirm who was riding the prototype and who was taking photographs.
Honda employees perform similar tests at least three times a month, terHorst said.
Torrance-based Honda and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration have opened investigations.
“There’s still a lot of chaos around the situation,” said Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer.
He said Honda and Cal/OSHA will examine training records and the protocol for vehicle testing and interview witnesses to determine the cause of the accident.
“Honda is going to be looking at the prototypes very closely to see if there are any mechanical issues,” Fryer said. “At this point, it’s very early to start putting the pieces together.”
Honda colleagues described the men as avid motorcycle enthusiasts and highly experienced riders.
Boyd was known around the office as “G.O. Joe,” after one of the company’s motorcycle models. Vandenberg owned a collection of at least 10 motorcycles.
“They had at least 100,000 miles of riding time each [and] were very competent and qualified,” said co-worker Mike Spencer. “I’m sure it was just a complete freak accident.”
Vandenberg’s love of motorcycles had taken him from a Michigan motorcycle dealership to a development position in Torrance.
He came to Honda 21 years ago and worked his way up from the service department, co-workers said.
“It was a passion,” said Jessie Carrera, an administrative assistant at Honda. “Dirk was a true expert.”
Vandenberg frequently spent vacations outdoors with his wife, Donna, and sons, Andrew, 16, and Nick, 9.
“He was always a fun-loving, outgoing individual who enjoyed jet-skiing and go-carting and water-skiing. Anything that had an engine on it interested Dirk,” said Spencer. “They’ll be greatly missed.”
Said terHorst: “It’s a terrible tragedy for everyone in the company. It’s a very unusual situation when people are injured during testing.”
