Pennsylvania couple remembered fondly after fatal motorcycle accident

Sometimes people adopt driving habits that save a few seconds here and there, and work perfectly well virtually every time. They might coast through stop signs near their homes, sure that they know how often cars and pedestrians go through those intersections. Or they might give a highway a quick glance before turning onto it, certain that the road is almost always empty.

Unfortunately, those drivers are often unprepared for exceptions to what they “know.” The glance isn’t enough to reveal the presence of a motorcycle, for instance, and the driver pulls their large, heavy, slow-moving vehicle out onto the highway directly into the path of a motorcycle.

A similar tale unfolded within the past few days, when officials say an elderly woman driving an SUV didn’t see a motorcycle or the Pennsylvania man and woman riding on it. The married couple died after their motorcycle collided with the SUV on Route 434 near the Susquehanna River.

Police said the elderly woman pulled her SUV onto the road directly in the path of the motorcycle. They said speed, drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash.

Friends remembered the community-minded pair for their devotion to their three daughters, their faith and their hometown of New Milford. The husband, 62, lived a short while after the crash but succumbed to his injuries at a hospital near Vestal, New York, where the collision occurred. His wife, 64, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 72-year-old driving the SUV had no reported injuries. She was ticketed for failing to yield the right of way. She told police officers that she failed to see the motorcyclists.

“She didn’t do this intentionally,” the town’s police chief told the local news. That’s no doubt true. Few people responsible for fatal accidents deliberately crash their vehicles.

The question for families in similar situations is whether they should hole the responsible person accountable for their failure to pay attention, look carefully and drive safely. The families can hold the person accountable with the assistance of a Pennsylvania attorney who knows how to protect your rights and interests.