A Dallas police officer is recovering from a fractured ankle and two dislocated shoulders after an off-duty motorcycle accident Wednesday night.

Senior Cpl. Kenneth L. Ellis crashed at about 7 p.m. near the intersection of Knoxville Street and Illinois Avenue while riding his personal bike, Dallas police said.

Senior Cpl. Ellis, who has been on the force since 1985, was transported to Methodist Dallas Medical Center in stable condition. He is not a motorcycle officer for police department.

Motorcycle Accidents in Texas

Source Quickdfw.com

Robert Wright bought his beloved high-performance motorcycle a few months ago. It seemed only fitting when his longtime friend Derek Smith bought a bike, too.

The recent L.D. Bell High School graduates set off for a ride together Thursday night, but their plans ended in tragedy when both 18-year-olds were killed after crashing one after the other and falling about 34 feet off a highway overpass in Irving.

Longtime friends Robert Wright (left) and Derek Smith were killed in Irving, Texas when they crashed their motorcycles on an exit ramp from State Highway 161 to State Highway 183 in Irving. According to Irving police, Mr. Wright of North Richland Hills and Mr. Smith of Bedford were riding south on State Highway 161 about 10:30 p.m. and took the exit ramp to go west on State Highway 183 when Mr. Smith lost control of his 2008 Suzuki GSX-R 600 bike and hit a wall. The impact threw him over a retaining wall.

Mr. Wright, traveling behind him on his 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 636, hit Mr. Smith’s motorcycle, and also was thrown over the wall.

Robbie Wright, Mr. Wright’s father, on Friday described his son as an experienced and safe motorcyclist.

“They were just having fun,” he said. “They weren’t doing the crazy bike crap.”

Alex Levee, 17, who went to high school with both men, said Mr. Smith bought his bike just four days before the crash. She saw him working on the bike Thursday afternoon.

“Derek was like a teddy bear,” she said. “He was so sweet and so nice.”

Irving police spokesman David Tull said Friday that speed may have been a factor in the accident, but he didn’t know how fast the men were traveling. He said Mr. Wright may have been too close to Mr. Smith’s motorcycle to react quickly when Mr. Smith hit the wall.

Robbie Wright said his son, known as Brad, was wearing a helmet, but it could not protect him after he fell from the overpass.

“He was an experienced rider that just got stuck in a bad place,” Robbie Wright said.

Mr. Smith’s family could not be reached for comment.

Robbie Wright said his son and Mr. Smith had been high school classmates and became friends years ago.

L.D. Bell principal Jim Bannister said Friday that they were well-liked in the senior class. He described Mr. Smith as a reserved student who also had a comical side. Mr. Wright was more outgoing, he said.

“They were great kids,” Mr. Bannister said. “They will be sorely missed. They were just enjoying post-high school life.”

Friends said Mr. Smith was attending classes at Tarrant County College. Robbie Wright said his son also was taking classes there and eventually planned to open an automobile repair shop.

“He loved working on cars,” Robbie Wright said. “He loved horsepower. He loved cars. He had his whole life in front of him.”

Austin, Texas police located the truck believed to be responsible for the fatal Austin motorcycle accident.

Austin Police said sometime before 5 a.m., a blue GMC pickup traveling northbound on Highway 183 slammed into the motorcyclist.  The motorcycle was dragged by the truck before coming to rest at the intersection of Lamar Boulevard and Highway 183, about one mile away from the initial collision.

Police said the motorcyclist seemed to have been following the rules of the road, as he was maintaining a safe speed and was wearing a helmet and full protective gear.

The road was reopened around 7:30 a.m. after the northbound lanes of Highway 183 between Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road were shut down.

Traffic on northbound Highway 183 was being diverted to the frontage road close to Burnet Road.

The driver of the pickup has not been found nor has the name of the victim been released.

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact the APD Vehicular Homicide Unit Detectives at (512) 974-4724. This case remains under investigation by Vehicular Homicide detectives and is the 38th traffic fatality of 2008.

A motorcyclist traveling northbound on I-75 Central Expressway was killed when he struck the median just south of Southwestern Boulevard.

The motorcycle accident was reported at about 1:15 a.m. in the 7600 block of 75, and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, Dallas police Cpl. Gerardo Monreal said. The man, who suffered severe head injuries, was believed to have been in his early 20s. His identity had not been confirmed late Wednesday morning.

Witnesses estimated that the motorcycle was traveling in excess of 100 mph when it passed their vehicle prior to the crash, police said.

After striking the median, the motorcycle skidded forward on the west shoulder of the northbound lanes. After the driver was thrown from the motorcycle, the bike continued traveling northbound, crossing four lanes of traffic before striking a semi-truck and another vehicle.

A motorcycle driver was killed and his passenger was injured in a motorcycle crash on Interstate 35E in Dallas, Texas.

The accident took place near State Highway 183, Dallas police officers said.

The two on the motorcycle were heading south and attempting to change lanes when the front tire of the motorcycle hit the left back corner of another vehicle, police said. The motorcycle spun and collided with a car.

The motorcycle’s driver fell off the bike and was dragged by a car for several hundred feet. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His name was not released.

The passenger was knocked off the bike and onto the highway. She was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Her name and condition were not available this morning.

Police were searching for three people who were in the car that dragged the motorcyclist and failed to provide information or assist the injured.  

A 67-year-old Muskogee man has died in a motorcycle accident on a rural McIntosh County highway.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says David Gray died about 9:45 a.m. Thursday when he slumped down and his motorcycle ran off the road and struck a guardrail on State Highway 9.

The accident happened about 10 miles west of Eufaula near the tiny community of Raiford.

Gray died at the scene.

Source: kten.com

A motorcycle caught fire and its rider was burned after an accident this afternoon on the southbound service road of U.S. Highway 75 in Allen.

A helicopter arrived at the scene near McDermott Drive shortly after 1 p.m. to transported the injured person.

That motorcycle accident did not appear to be related to a separate incident that closed three lanes on northbound U.S. Highway 75 just south of Bethany moments earlier. One of the two vehicles involved was reportedly carrying hazardous material, but no spill was reported.

Two ambulances were requested. None of the victims were immediately identified and their conditions were not available.

Source: DallasNews.com

A man on a motorcycle trying to pass a pickup turning into a private drive has died following a collision between the vehicles. The motorcycle accident happened about 5:35 p.m. on a Caddo County road about 1.7 miles west of Anadarko, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says 26-year-old Macneil D. Passi of Anadarko was traveling at a high rate of speed on the motorcycle when it struck the pickup on the driver’s side. Troopers say the force of the collision ejected Passi about 35 feet. He died at the scene. None of the three occupants of the pickup suffered injuries.

OAK RIDGE NORTH — Police are seeking the driver of a dark-colored Chevy Suburban in connection to an accident last week that left a motorcyclist in critical condition.

Around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Justin E. Guy was riding his motorcycle down the Woodlands Parkway flyover from Interstate 45 into The Woodlands when the Suburban entered the one-way ramp driving in the wrong direction, according to police reports.

Guy, 24, of Spring, swerved to miss the Suburban, drove up the retaining wall of the overpass and was propelled into a tree.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Guy was still in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

His injuries include a fractured neck and collarbone, two leg fractures, rib fractures and a punctured lung.

Since being flown by medical helicopter to the hospital, Guy has developed pneumonia, an infection of a head wound and has also battled fevers up to 103 degrees, Mark Guy, his father, said.

Heavily sedated and on life support, he has so far been unable to communicate with his parents.

“Who in their right mind could do that and just drive away?” Mark Guy said.

Oak Ridge North Police Chief Andy Walters said officers have been viewing traffic camera footage to see if they can gather more clues about the Suburban and its driver.

“Although a lot of people saw the accident, very few could actually describe the vehicle,” Walters said.

Walters said there are ‘Wrong way’ signs at the opening of the flyover, and “it’s pretty apparent once you start going that way that it’s not right.”

While flyover has been relatively accident-free, with most incidents involving one vehicle scraping against a retaining wall, Walters said drivers frequently end up going the wrong way on feeders and even the interstate.

“Some of these people aren’t who you’d tend to stereotype as an older or disoriented driver; they just don’t realize they’re going the wrong way,” he said.

Mark Guy said he’s seeking any video footage available from the accident.

“Anything might help, maybe even if The Woodlands Mall parking lot has cameras that could have caught the accident,” he said. “This is something they’d have to do on their own out of the goodness of their hearts.”

Beyond that, his family has only one request.

“Give us your prayers,” he said, “and try to help us find the guy who did this.”

Source: www.widespreadpr.com

With almost 600 miles of highways in the city, there are lots of places for Houston motorcycles to explore.  However, with over 2 million residents, there are also lots of opportunities to driver inattention to pose a safety hazard for motorcyclists. In fact, most motorcycle accidents – at least motorcycle-vehicle accidents – are caused by inattention on the part of a car or truck driver, for example, in failing to check his or her blind spot before changing lanes, or in simply failing to notice the presence of a motorcyclist in an intersection.

Motorcycle riders in Houston, as in every other Texas city, should know their rights when dealing with an insurance company after a Houston motorcycle accident.  Insurance adjusters have one priority, and it’s not to make sure that Houston motorcycle riders are treated fairly.  Insurance adjusters want to settle motorcycle accident claims for as little as possible, and if that means that Houston motorcycle riders have to suffer the consequences, so be it. 

This is the reason that Houston motorcyclists need a Houston motorcycle accident lawyer on their side, one who knows the ins and outs of the accident claims and motorcycle accident victims’ rights.  If you have been injured in a Houston motorcycle accident, you need experienced representation.