By Zech Sindt
Motorcycle accidents across the state are on the rise this year. So far there have been 71 fatal crashes in Minnesota, compared to 64 fatal crashes last year. In just two days, on October 19 and 20 this year, there were six accidents in southeast Minnesota. One of them was fatal.
At 5:18 p.m. on October 20, Robert Allen Markwardt, 60, was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle southbound on Highway 65 near Glenville. It left the roadway and crashed near 1st Street Northwest. Markwardt was transported to Mayo Clinic in Albert Lea with non-life-threatening injuries. The report says alcohol was involved.
At 3:30 p.m. the same day, 32-year-old Goutham Balu Narayanan of Naperville, Ill., was driving a Yamaha motorcycle eastbound on Highway 60 when the motorcycle left the roadway and crashed near County Road 86 in Glasgow. He had a passenger, 60-year-old Monica Jean Fairchild. Narayanan sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The report says alcohol was involved in this crash as well.
At 2:18 p.m. the same day, a 31-year-old man from Saint Louis Park was driving a Yamaha motorcycle southbound on Highway 316 when it crashed near the Highway 61 intersection in Welch Township. He was taken to Red Wing Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol was not involved in this crash.
Only seven minutes before that, at 2:11 p.m., a 73-year-old man from Dover was driving a Yamaha motorcycle westbound on Highway 30 when it left the roadway and crashed near milepost 252 in Pilot Mound township. He was taken to Mayo Clinic with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol was not involved in this crash.
On October 19, at 12:30 p.m., a 52-year-old woman was driving a Harley Davidson southbound on Highway 57 in Kasson when she lost control and tipped over in the roundabout at Main Street. She was taken to St. Marys in Rochester with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol was not involved in this crash.
About the same time on the same day, 64-year-old Marsha Kay Durham from Minnesota City was driving a Harley Davidson southbound on Highway 61 when she lost control on the eastbound ramp to I-90. Her motorcycle left the roadway and crashed into the center median. The Winona County Sheriff, Dakota Fire and Rescue, Nodine Fire and Rescue, Tri-State Ambulance, and Gundersen Air all responded to the scene. Alcohol was not involved in the crash. Tragically, Durham didn’t survive the crash. This was not the only fatal crash in southeast Minnesota in October.
The first fatal crash in October happened on October 3 at 6:09 p.m. Sixty-one-year-old Ross Anthony Stensrud was driving a Harley Davidson northbound on Highway 74 near Park Road in Saratoga Township when his motorcycle left the roadway. The Winona County Sheriff’s Office, Saint Charles Police Department, and Saint Charles Fire Department responded to the crash. Stensrud died at the scene. The report says alcohol was involved in the crash.
Minnesota Public Information Trooper, Sergeant Troy Christianson, says the state patrol does typically see an increase of crashes this time of year. “People are trying to get their last rides in, but things are starting to change. We are getting more deer movement because farmers are in the fields now,” said Christianson. “Speed and driver inexperience are the two main factors in most of the crashes,” he continued.
In a Forbes article from February, Forbes notes that motorcycle riders are 28 times more likely to lose their lives in a crash compared with other motorists on the road. They are also four times more likely to sustain an injury in a collision. In addition, 34% of motorcycle fatalities involve speeding, and 27% of motorcycle accidents involve alcohol. Motorcycle accidents are three times more likely to involve an impaired driver during the nighttime compared with during the day.
Christianson says road conditions often play a factor, especially in the spring, but it’s been dry lately so it hasn’t been a factor in any of the accidents. “I think the biggest factor has been deer movement,” he said. The state patrol asks that riders pay attention to speed and watch for animals, especially deer. In addition, don’t drink and drive.