Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Over the last couple of weeks, there have been several fatal accidents involving motorcyclists across Western New York. Just this past weekend, a 50-year-old motorcyclist was killed in the Town of Burns in Allegany County, while a 38-year-old was also killed in a separate incident in the Town of Aurora in Erie County.
New York State Trooper James O'Callaghan says the rise in fatal motorcycle crashes is alarming, but not unexpected.
"Usually between Memorial Day and Labor Day is where we see most of our collisions and most of our fatal collisions, especially with teen drivers ('100 Deadliest Days)," said O'Callaghan in an interview with WBEN. "Obviously, motorcycles start to appear on the roadways in May because of the nicer weather, and obviously will ride through to the fall. Unfortunately, a lot of those collisions recently, a handful of them are New York State Police investigated either due to extreme speeds or excess excessive speeds, we've seen that being a primary factor. We've seen other motor vehicles not taking the time to look for or acknowledge motorcycles being on the roadway."
New York State Police has seen an 84% increase in motorcycle collisions from 2024-to-2025.
O'Callaghan says it's excessive speeds - double or triple the speed limit of the roadway - that's getting many motorcyclists into trouble, or put into life-threatening situations.
"Cars, other operators are not seeing these bikes, or they're going so fast that they're not used to a vehicle going 120 miles an hour coming at them, so they misjudge how much time they have to turn or acknowledge other vehicles," O'Callaghan noted.
"When it comes to motorcycles, a lot of them will run, a lot of different failure to comply, where they just take off, thinking maybe they can go faster than law enforcement. Theoretically, yes, physically they can go faster, but ultimately at the end of the day, if you do that so many times, that lifestyle will catch up with you. And unfortunately, it may result in you dying in that collision, or you getting seriously injured in a collision."
O'Callaghan says many of the motorcyclists know or are familiar with the roadways they travel on their treks across the region.
"Let's take our unfortunate event of a 21-year-old on Fisk Road in the Town of Pendleton, that operator lived on Fisk Road, and it's a perfectly straight road, there are no curves. But again, excessive extreme speed on that ultimately ending up at a collision in the fatality of the 21-year-old operator," O'Callaghan noted. "A lot of these bikes know the area that they ride, they frequent the area, but when you're doing double or triple the speed limit into the triple digits, that doesn't give you a lot of room to react. And if you do even react at that speed, more than likely on a motorcycle, you will not live through that impact."
While motorcyclists are asked to be mindful of the rules of the road, the same can be said for drivers behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
"As an operator of a car, you really have to take the time, make sure you know your surroundings, make sure you're stopping for signs, not running red lights, not hitting other vehicles - especially motorcycles - pulling out in front of motorcycles or tailgating motorcycles," O'Callaghan said.
O'Callaghan says New York State Police and other law enforcement agencies are on the roadways doing their best to enforce the rules of the road, whether it'd be the driver of a car or a motorcyclist.
"We are a full service agency, the New York State Police. You call 9-1-1, you might get a trooper, you might get a deputy, so on and so forth. But traffic enforcement is a priority, because more than likely, if you're going to die today, it's going to be in a traffic collision. That's just fact," O'Callaghan said. "And if you're a teen driver or if you're a child, you're more than likely going to die inside a vehicle. That is also a statistic. That is why it's important for us to go out there and ensure the motoring public is as safe as possible with us enforcing vehicle and traffic.
"No one claims ownership to the road or the speed limits and things like that. That's why we're out there."
