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Motorcycle Accident Kills Santa Rosa Man

A motorcycle accident in Marin County has killed a 59-year-old Santa Rosa man. According to the California Highway Patrol, a Ford van collided with a motorcycle, killing the motorcyclist, Bob Amen. The driver of the van drifted out of the southbound lane and into the opposing lane, directly into the path of Amen’s Ducati motorcycle. The impact of the accident set both the van and motorcycle on fire. Amen was thrown off the motorcycle and landed in a ditch on the east side of the roadway. He was declared dead at the scene of the motorcycle crash. The driver of the van, Charles Belford, sustained minor injuries to his arm.

Amen held a Ph.D in aerospace engineering and formerly worked for O’Reilly Media in Sebastopol. He had lost his job in January this year, and recently found another one. His wife has just found out that her temporary job as an English teacher would likely become permanent. The couple had much to look forward to, and in Amen’s wife Tracy’s words, the two were feeling “very fortunate and confident about the future.”  Amen rode his motorcycle every week to his mother’s house in Petaluma. That’s where he was headed at the time of the motorcycle accident. He chose to ride there instead of driving through the congested traffic on highway 101.

There is no information if Belford will be charged in the accident.

Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its annual report on accident fatality statistics for 2008. The report shows a dip in accident-related deaths in 2008, across every single category, accept for motorcycle accidents. The decline in overall accident fatalities in fact, has been the highest in decades. Pedestrian accidents, drunk driving accidents and speeding-related car crashes – all of these have seen a substantial dip in fatality numbers. The only category of accidents which had not declined and, in fact, recorded an increased rate of fatalities in 2008, was motorcycle accidents. The number of people killed in motorcycle crashes in 2008 was actually higher than in 2007. Even worse, those numbers have been steadily rising over the past 11 years.

Motorcycle riders are at a high risk of fatalities and serious injuries after an accident. As the NHTSA statistics show, wearing a helmet will lower the risk of serious or fatal head injuries, but will not guarantee that you will survive a serious accident. Persons wearing helmets may suffer multiple body trauma and severe and fatal organ damage.  We see lesser focus on motorcycle safety than we do on the prevention of drunk driving accidents or efforts to save lives through seatbelt enforcement.

As the NHTSA statistics show, we need to renew focus on efforts to prevent serious motorcycle accidents. To California motorcycle accident lawyers, it’s a matter of dismay that when accident fatalities across the country are dropping thanks to greater efforts by law enforcement and better education, the rates of motorcycle fatalities are actually rising in number.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of  motorcycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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