Deadly month for Michiana motorcyclists

SOUTH BEND, Ind – After a month of deadly motorcycle accidents in the Michiana area both officials and motorcycle riders are urging people to ride carefully.

“Slow down, be careful, and give yourself lots of space” motorcycle enthusiast Jerry Mannis of South Bend said.

ABC57 has reported on six accidents in August, four of which were deadly.

Wednesday, another fatal motorcycle crash happened on State Rd 23 in Granger.

Police are still investigating the accident on State Road 23, where at this time speed is believed to be a factor.

“Folks sometimes can’t see motorcycles or don’t look for them as closely as they should, that’s on the driver’s side. On the motorcycle operator’s side sometimes they operate those vehicles a little bit faster than perhaps they should” St. Joseph County Police Assistant Chief Bill Thompson said.

According to Thompson there’s usually an uptick in accidents at the beginning of the riding season in the spring and when it rains, but every incident is different and many factors may lead to an accident.

“As a personal safety thing and this is just something we observe in public safety, I recognize that there is not a law in Indiana that requires riders of motorcycles to wear helmets. I know it’s a hot button issue but I also know that people who wear helmets get injured less severely and have fatal crashes less often atleast in our experience here locally than riders who don’t wear them” Thompson said.