by Tahlia Ganser
After being deployed to the Middle East on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, 23-year-old Ryan Pringle returned to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station near Oak Harbor in June, only to die in a motorcycle crash less than two months later.
Pringle’s death, like a number of recent area motorcycle fatalities, appears to have been preventable, according to Washington State Patrol investigators.
The U.S. Navy petty officer third class was speeding westbound on Pine Wood Way just before midnight Tuesday on Whidbey Island when he failed to stop at the West Beach Road stop sign and crashed into a nearby house, said State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary.
Pringle, who carried an Illinois driver’s license, died hours later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. State Patrol investigators believe alcohol was involved and say Pringle was not wearing a helmet.
It was the fourth fatal motorcycle accident in the area in two weeks. State Patrol investigators say the accidents were caused by the motorcyclists’ driving errors.
In the three latest cases, Leary noted: “We have three people who possibly could have been saved if a different decision was made.”
On Sunday, Jessica Kalles, 12, of Moses Lake, died after she was ejected from the back of her stepfather’s motorcycle on Highway 20 near Burlington. The driver, 54-year-old Bill Kalles, is in satisfactory condition at Harborview. Investigators think that he couldn’t slow down enough to avoid striking a GMC Yukon that had slowed in front of them and may have tipped the bike. The girl slid into oncoming traffic and was struck by a van.
Just one day earlier, Bryan Dunham, a 31-year-old Seattle motorcyclist, died near Rockport on Highway 530 when he crossed the centerline and struck an oncoming SUV.
A fourth motorcyclist died Aug. 17 from injuries in a crash on Chuckanut Drive three days earlier. Shawn T. McCarthy, 35, of Marysville, was driving north and crossed into oncoming traffic colliding with an SUV.
According to a State Patrol press release Wednesday, 80 percent of motorcycle collisions are the fault of the bike’s driver. Half of all fatal motorcycle accidents do not involve a second vehicle.
“Even more tragically, most deaths result from only a couple of easily-correctable errors,” the press release states.
Speeding is the biggest factor in motorcycle fatalities, followed by unsafe lane changing, according to the State Patrol.
“Inexperience is also proving to be deadly. Most fatalities involve very young riders on racing-style bikes, and older riders who take up the hobby late in life,” the release states.
Leary said there is an increasing number of motorcyclists out on the roads in the past several years, partly because of rising gas prices.
Area motorcycle shops are reporting higher numbers of sport bike sales. And motorcycle endorsements and registrations have spiked in the past two years both in Washington and nationwide, Leary said.
Last year, State Patrol investigated 66 fatal motorcycle accidents throughout the state and 80 in 2006.
Many of the riders who die do not have motorcycle endorsements, Leary said. The State Patrol will ticket anyone riding a motorcycle without an endorsement, the release states. Officials might also impound the bike.
Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at .
