Motorcyclists question safety of road near site of fatal crash

Motorcyclists question safety of road near site of fatal crash

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Story Published: Jul 29, 2007 at 12:24 AM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 29, 2007 at 12:33 AM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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KIRKLAND, Wash. -- A local motorcyclist is being investigated for vehicular homicide after his 19-year-old passenger was killed in a crash on Friday. But other riders who travel on the same stretch of Interstate 405 say the state could share the blame.

Chantel N. Still, 19, of Kirkland, was a thrown from the motorcycle she was riding when the driver lost control and slid into a guardrail near Northeast 100th Street on I-405.

Troopers say the driver, 24-year-old Nicholas J. Frye, of Redmond, was going too fast when he tried to change lanes..

Other motorcyclists who contacted KOMO say the bumps and grooves on the pavement through the construction zone on I-405 are very difficult for riders to handle.

Combined, Anthony Bakker and Ron George have 47 years of riding under their belts. But they're still scared of those bumps.

"It hit so hard I actually came off the bike like that," Bakker said while lifting his body up off his motorcycle to demonstrate.

And they've slid on the grooved pavement.

"All the sudden - 'bam' - you're down into a groove and then it starts pushing you to the left or the right," said George.

They're convinced those bumps and grooves played a role in Friday's fatal crash and say better signage may have helped prevent it.

Bakker said the warning signs are often of little use because they're place right next to the bump or pavement hazard.

"I want to seem something hundreds of meters in front," he said. "I want to see (the signs say) motorcycles use caution there's a bump, depression, there's an uphill, there are grooves."

Several riders felt the same way.

"Their signage warning motorcyclists of this is sketchy at best and they don't tell us what lane is grooved for instance," wrote Scott Smernis in an e-mail to KOMO. "Suddenly you find yourself on this grooved part of the road and a motorcycle feels like it is riding on ice."

The state Department of Transportation says they display plenty of "road work ahead" signs, but they're working on doing a little more.

"As far as putting up further signs further forward, before they get to the work site, we'll be looking into that one," said Roland Benito, project manager for the I-405 construction work.

The driver of the motorcycle involved in the fatal crash is in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He has not been charged.

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