A 38-year-old woman, a passenger on a Harley-Davidson, was killed last Friday evening when a car failed to yield at a rural stop sign in Morrow County, the third fatal motorcycle crash to strike the area in just six weeks. Amanda Pickens, of Ashley, was pronounced dead at the scene after the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu pulled into the motorcycle's path near the intersection of County Road 25 and U.S. Route 42 in Westfield Township.
The crash happened around 8 p.m. on Sept. 4, according to WBNS-10TV, when the 2000 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide was traveling southwest on U.S. 42 as the Malibu headed eastbound on County Road 25. Troopers say the Chevrolet's driver reportedly failed to yield at the stop sign, sending the motorcycle into the car's path. The driver of the Harley-Davidson was identified as 30-year-old Tyler Weaver of Cardington, who was injured and taken to OhioHealth Morrow County Hospital, while the Malibu's driver was identified as 47-year-old William Stover of Wheelersburg, according to the Richland Source. That outlet reports Stover was not injured in the collision.
Neither Weaver nor Pickens was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Morrow County EMS pronounced Pickens dead at the site, and the same account notes that emergency response included the Morrow County Sheriff's Office, Morrow County EMS, A'Rays Towing, the Morrow County Prosecutor's Office, and the Morrow County Coroner. The crash remains under investigation, and it is unclear whether prosecutors will pursue charges against Stover for failing to yield.
A Deadly Stretch for Morrow County Motorcyclists
The Westfield Township crash is the third fatal motorcycle wreck in Morrow County within six weeks. Just three days later, on Sept. 7, a 60-year-old Centerburg man, Randy Sheets, was killed in Marengo when a driver failed to yield while making a left turn, according to Knox Pages. Sheets was riding an unhelmeted Harley-Davidson Electra Glide; Pickens was a passenger in the earlier crash.
Weeks earlier, on July 29, a 70-year-old Mount Gilead motorcyclist named Darell Boestler was killed in a crash on U.S. Route 42 near County Road 110 in Congress Township, according to Marion County Now. State troopers reported Boestler was also unhelmeted at the time of that crash. Together, the three wrecks included two reported failure-to-yield collisions; the July 29 crash involved Boestler's motorcycle leaving the roadway, being laid down, and later being struck by another vehicle, rather than a reported failure to yield.
Morrow County has seen this kind of tragedy before. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal County Road 25 crash from Feb. 22 that killed a 27-year-old Mount Gilead man and a 10-year-old girl in neighboring Lincoln Township. And just days before the Westfield Township wreck, Hoodline covered a separate failure-to-yield crash that killed a 17-year-old Fredericktown teen elsewhere in the county.
Ohio's Helmet Law and the Numbers Behind It
Ohio's helmet requirements are far from universal. Under Ohio Revised Code § 4511.53, the state mandates helmets only for riders under 18, novice riders in their first year of licensure, temporary permit holders, and their passengers, according to the Gervelis Law Firm. The available reports do not establish whether helmet use was voluntary for Weaver and Pickens.
The consequences of that gap show up starkly in state crash data. Ohio State Highway Patrol figures cited by the Flickinger Legal Group show that 71% of motorcyclists killed and 65% of those seriously injured over its cited most recent five-year period were not wearing helmets. Separately, WTOL reported that 53% of at-fault motorcyclists lacked a proper motorcycle license endorsement, with troopers citing a lack of formal rider training as a contributing factor.
The scale of the problem has been growing. Ohio recorded more than 20,000 motorcycle crashes statewide between 2020 and 2024, per the same WTOL report, even as overall fatal motorcycle crashes dropped 7% across that period. Provisional Ohio State Highway Patrol statistics released Sept. 8 show statewide traffic crash fatalities in 2026 are up by 23 deaths compared to the same period last year.
