Unseen Motorcyclists, Uncharged Motorists

[XLFD]

I would have to say that 2014 is not only the year of the invisible motorcyclist in Western Michigan, but also the year of the motorist getting off scot-free for their failure to yield the right-of-way to these vulnerable users of the road.  But then again, this has been the pattern in previous years, it is just getting more and more acceptable to the police that handle the accident investigations and decide not to prosecute, and to the media that report them and decide not to stress how avoidable it would have been if the motorist was paying attention to driving protocols.

In May 2012, Matt Millspaugh, a Custer teacher, struck and killed a couple of motor bikers and at the end of that year was convicted of a misdemeanor 'moving violation causing death of another person'.  He allegedly had to go over the center line to avoid crashing into a motorist who had stopped in his lane on US 31 going to Manistee, right into the path of a motorcycle with a couple on it.  The law seemed to be judiciously applied in that instance, but I haven't seen it apply since as many more people negligently move into the path of or crash into motorcyclists on our west Michigan roads. 

A couple such deaths have caught my eyes recently.  From the Holland Sentinel:

Kenneth Russell of Holland, died at the scene of the crash at 6:08 a.m. on James Street at Kamar Drive between 120th and 112th avenues in Holland Township, according to Capt. Steve Kempker of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.

Russell was traveling eastbound on James Street on a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle when a 2001 Honda Accord driven by Soulyluck Noravong, 24, of Holland, exited a service road near Metal Flow Corp. factory on the southside of the street and was struck in the driver’s side by the motorcycle.

Noravong’s car spun around and ended up on the lawn of Metal Flow, 11694 James St. The driver was unconscious.

He was pinned in the vehicle and had to be extricated by the Holland Township Fire Department. Noravong was then taken to Holland Hospital in serious condition, Kempker said.
 

A casual read of the article may suggest that the motorcyclist was at fault for driving into this car, where the driver was actually seriously injured, for once.  But what gets lost is that the biker was just heading straight down the road when this driver pulled out in front of them, violating his right-of-way, which led to this:

and the death of the rider.  The serious injury of the vehicle driver should be coupled with a misdemeanor for killing Kenneth Russell through his act of severe negligence.

The article also relates:

David Achterhof, 57, died Aug. 3 in the head-on crash on 32nd Street when he was riding his motorcycle westbound and was struck head-on just after 9 p.m. by an eastbound sport utility vehicle that crossed the center line at Apple Avenue.

Eulises Mora-Hernandez, 30, faces charges of operating while intoxicated causing death, driving while license suspended causing death and failure to stop at a fatal accident.

Nowhere is there any charge of 'moving violation causing death of another person', so if Eulises wasn't drunk, wasn't driving without a suspended license, and didn't fail to stop, it appears everything would be hunky-dory with crossing the center line and taking David Achterhof from his family.

The article even mentioned another two motorcyclists killed in June in Allegan:

Robert John Kammeraad, 69, and his wife Susan Mae Kammeraad, 68, the passenger on the motorcycle, died June 1 on M-40 at Babylon Road in Allegan Township when a vehicle driven by a 23-year-old Grand Haven area woman was southbound on M-40 and failed to notice vehicles had stopped in front of her for a left turn.

She swerved into the northbound lane to avoid the vehicles and struck the motorcycle. The car driver’s name has not been released pending an investigation by the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office.

This is exactly what happened in the Matt Millspaugh example, and yet his name was immediately revealed and the investigation was done by the sheriff's office quicker than the three months it's taking here.  But this is what usually happens, the careless/negligent/reckless/distracted driver gets a pass from the press and the investigators, while the products of their poor driving get planted.

And just yesterday in Coopersville this happened according to FOX 17 :

A motorcyclist died Wednesday after a crash involving his bike and a car in Coopersville.  The crash happened at about 1:30 p.m. at 64th Avenue and Randall Street.

Investigators said the motorcyclist was heading west on Randall and the car was going south on 64th Avenue.  The car, driven by a 52-year-old Muskegon County man was stopped at a stop sign.  The car pulled out, not seeing the motorcycle, said investigators. Deputies said the 26-year-old Grand Rapids man on the motorcycle took evasive action before the crash and ‘put the bike down’  but was hit anyway.

The usual.  Motorcyclist dies, and unless the driver was intoxicated, driving without a license, or failed to stop, they receive anonymity and no charges are immediately placed on them for violating the right-of-way of the motorcyclist going down the road, and his right to live another day.