A 23-year-old Manitowoc man is dead after his motorcycle failed to negotiate a curve on Johnston Drive in the Town of Two Rivers Thursday evening, veering off the roadway and straight into a heavily wooded area. Deputies were called to the 6000 block of Johnston Drive around 5:59 p.m. and found the rider deceased at the scene.
According to the Herald Times Reporter, the motorcycle had been traveling north on Johnston Drive before it left the road and entered the wooded area northeast of the highway. The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crash and had not released additional information at the time of that report.
Preliminary details reported by 101 WIXX indicate the motorcycle failed to negotiate the curve north of Woodland Drive before continuing straight into the trees. The station's report notes deputies located the victim deceased in the 6000 block of Johnston Drive after arriving on scene.
Road Closed Nearly Two Hours as Crews Responded
Johnston Drive was shut down for close to two hours while crews worked the scene, according to Seehafer News, which reported that Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig issued a statement offering condolences on behalf of the department. The road reopened at about 7:54 p.m. Thursday, per the Herald Times Reporter's account of the incident.
Responding agencies included the Town of Two Rivers Fire Department, Mishicot Ambulance, and the Manitowoc County Coroner's Office, all of which worked alongside deputies at the crash site. The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the crash, and no cause has yet been determined for why the rider left the roadway.
A Rough Stretch for Rural Manitowoc County Roads
The Johnston Drive fatality came just a day after emergency crews in Manitowoc County responded to another serious crash, in which a 76-year-old Valders woman collided with a train on Lenz Road, an incident Hoodline previously covered that triggered an automated 911 alert and a medical airlift. The back-to-back incidents underscore what county traffic safety records describe as a historically dangerous stretch of the calendar, with September recording the county's highest monthly number of fatal and injury crashes, according to data compiled by the University of Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory. Manitowoc County averages roughly 11 traffic fatalities and 474 injuries per year, per that same research.
The Johnston Drive crash also follows a fatal motorcycle wreck in the Town of Polk in southeastern Wisconsin less than a week earlier, in which a 51-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were killed in a single-vehicle crash around 2:30 a.m.
Wisconsin's Helmet Law and Statewide Motorcycle Toll
Wisconsin law does not require helmets for adult motorcycle operators or passengers, mandating them only for riders under 18 or those riding on an instruction permit, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Whether the Johnston Drive rider was wearing a helmet has not been disclosed by investigators.
Preliminary state records show 56 motorcycle driver fatalities among Wisconsin's 315 total traffic deaths reported through late August, with the state's Division of State Patrol updating those figures weekly. Statewide, Wisconsin averages about 2,000 motorcycle crashes a year, resulting in roughly 100 deaths and 1,700 injuries annually, per longer-term Department of Transportation data.
Federal safety statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show motorcyclists are about 27 times more likely to die per mile traveled than occupants of passenger vehicles, since riders lack the structural protection of a car's frame. The agency's research also indicates that Snell- or DOT-approved helmets cut a rider's risk of fatal injury by roughly 37% to 41% and significantly reduce traumatic brain injury rates, since head trauma remains a leading cause of motorcycle deaths.
Under Wisconsin Statute ยง 346.70, law enforcement must submit an official state crash report for incidents involving injury, death, or significant property damage, and those detailed findings typically take 10 or more business days to enter the state database. The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office has not released further details on what may have caused the rider to leave the roadway, and the investigation remains open.
