Tuesday was a bad day for motorcycle riders in the First State. All three counties in Delaware had at least one rider transported to the hospital by emergency services yesterday.
The first accident occurred at around 6:55 in the morning just south of Dover. As the call came in rescue crews with the Magnolia Fire Company, Kent County Medics, and Trooper 2 heard the words that first responders never like to hear. “A motor vehicle crash involving a motorcycle”.
As they do every day, crews raced to the scene, coordinating with dispatchers to ensure that the helicopter would arrive just as the patient was packaged for transport. Shortly after the helo landed that patient was onboard and en route to the trauma center.
Tuesday was also Annette McMillan’s birthday. When Annette’s parents began calling not once but twice, one call right after the other, she thought maybe they really wanted to be the first to say Happy Birthday.
Rather than the expected cheerful greeting, Annette was met with “I have some bad news. Your brother had a motorcycle accident. Someone pulled out in front of him. They are air-lifting him to a Level 1 Trauma Center.”
As she listened to the call she started having flashbacks from the night her son called saying that someone pulled out in front of him on his motorcycle.
After hearing the bad news Annette confided in her church family, asking for prayers without telling them much about the accident. She didn’t want her large family to find out on social media before they were able to be informed personally.
As more news came in, Annette learned that despite her brother’s helmet being cracked during the crash and him being in a lot of pain, he didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries. He has a bruised jaw, a broken nose, some broken ribs, and road rash, she said. “Please continue to lift him up in prayer as he is in a lot of pain.”, she added.
Despite the day being stressful she did make time to give him a hard time. She told her brother that he just had to upstage her birthday. The jab made him laugh and she was sure that it hurt a little with the broken ribs an all.
Her brother told her that a vehicle had pulled out in front of her brother and that he was unable to stop. After hearing the details of the accident, Annette, a rider herself, shared her story hoping that drivers will pay more attention to the road. “It’s that time of the year where motorcycles are out and everywhere. Look once, look twice, even maybe look a third time. Do not pull out in front of them.”, she said.
As of May 28, 2019, there had been 37 motorcycles crashes in Delaware resulting in 6 fatalities according to the Delaware State Police. Our reporting shows an additional 6 crashes since that report was issued with one of the accidents resulting in a fatality. That brings the total to 43 crashes and 7 fatalities.