The ride north from New York City was nearly a four-hour one, but when motorcyclists arrived at Americade, they found thousands and thousands of kindred spirits. The Lake George motorcycle rally featured concerts, boat cruises, a rodeo, BBQ and beach parties. Unfortunately, the rally also was the scene of a fatal motorcycle crash on the Thruway.
The tragedy brought to mind other deadly collisions between motorcycles and motor vehicles, rally-goers said. Too often the crashes are caused by drivers who don't yield the right of way to the motorcyclist, the president of American Bikers Aimed Towards Education said.
"The driver gets ticketed with failure to yield right of way, and we have to bury someone we care about," group president Andy Liuzzi said.
Liuzzi knows about those kinds of losses. The proposed Creto-Kade's Law bears the names of two biker friends who were killed in crashes.
Creto-Kade’s Law has gained approval in the New York State Senate but has stalled in the Assembly’s Committee on Transportation. If it is eventually passed and then signed by the governor, it would increase penalties for drivers who injure or kill another motorist while committing a moving violation.
The TV station report cited a number of crashes, including a fatal collision in April in which the driver of a van making a left turn pulled directly in front of a biker. The very same set of circumstances played out late last month in a fatal crash in Albany.
For accident injury victims and for families that lose loved ones, there is little reason to hope that criminal justice will impose any meaningful penalties on negligent motorists. Instead, their pursuit of justice is much more frequently in the form of a personal injury claim or wrongful death lawsuit to hold the responsible party accountable.
