A FIFTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD pedal cyclist was early Saturday morning pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital after being struck down by a Toyota Tundra pickup on Friday night on the West Ruimveldt Backroad.Dead is Franklyn Earl Austin, also called ‘Dracula’ of Sophia, Greater Georgetown, a former member of the Guyana National Service and Guyana Defence Force. He was at the time of his death, employed with the Guyana

Police Force Special Constabulary as a handyman.
The accident happened around 19:30 hrs Friday, shortly after Austin had left a nephew’s home in Albouystown, and was heading to his sister Coreen Grant’s home at North East La Penitence.
Eyewitnesses said that while in the vicinity of the Multilateral School, Austin who was riding his pedal cycle, swerved to avoid a heap of sand that was strewn on the roadway, and was struck by a Tundra pickup, GPP 8328.
A post-mortem yesterday morning determined that Austin suffered rib spinal, head injuries, and a broken neck.
The family of eight siblings is now mourning the death of the second of two sons – both by motor vehicle accidents. On July 4, 2012, their other brother, Stephen Grant, 43, was killed in a hit-and-run accident on the Stanleytown Public Road, West Bank of Demerara. To date the motorcycle he was riding has not been recovered and the fatal accident seems to have become a cold case.
Franklyn Austin leaves to mourn his wife Roxanne Austin and two sons, Antoine Anthony Austin and Franklyn Ezekiel Austin.

(By Shirley Thomas)