A 26-year-old motorcyclist was ejected from his Harley-Davidson and hit the windshield of an oncoming Lexus after the car's driver failed to yield while turning left at a busy Miami Township intersection Friday afternoon, according to a crash report. The collision happened around 4 p.m. at West Alex Bell Road and State Route 741, sending the rider to a local hospital with suspected serious injuries.
According to the crash report detailed by WHIO TV, a 59-year-old man was driving a 2011 gray Lexus LS westbound on West Alex Bell Road toward State Route 741 when he approached the intersection with a yellow light. He turned the Lexus left onto State Route 741, directly into the path of a 26-year-old man riding a 2004 white Harley-Davidson Electra Glide eastbound on State Route 741, who also had a yellow light as he entered the intersection to continue through it.
The motorcycle struck the Lexus, and the rider was ejected from his bike, hitting the car's windshield before coming to rest in the middle of the intersection, per the crash report. Medics transported the motorcyclist to a local hospital with suspected serious injuries, while the Lexus driver was treated and released at the scene. An officer cited the Lexus driver for failure to yield.
What Ohio Law Says About Left Turns
The citation stems from Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.42, which requires drivers turning left within an intersection to yield the right-of-way to any approaching vehicle that is inside the intersection or close enough to pose an immediate hazard, according to Ohio Laws. A first-offense failure-to-yield citation is classified as a minor misdemeanor in Ohio, carrying a maximum fine of $150, court costs, and two penalty points that stay on a driver's record for two years, the Maher Law Firm notes.
The crash report does not indicate whether the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet or held a full motorcycle endorsement. Ohio law only requires helmets for riders under 18 and for novice riders in their first year of holding a license or permit, according to Mark Kitrick Law.
A Common and Dangerous Crash Pattern
Left-turn failure-to-yield crashes like this one are not isolated incidents on Ohio roads. Driver inattention and failure to yield right-of-way are consistently documented as the leading contributing factors in multi-vehicle motorcycle collisions statewide, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol statistics cited by Gallon Takacs & Boissoneault. Nationally, left-turn-across-path scenarios account for roughly 22 percent of all fatal intersection crashes, per National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data referenced by The Hometown Lawyers.
The toll of these crashes across Ohio has been significant. Between 2020 and 2024, the state recorded more than 20,000 motorcycle crashes resulting in 1,099 fatalities, and 68 percent of motorcyclists killed in that span were not wearing helmets at the time of impact, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol data reported by WBNS-TV. State officials have also noted that more than half of all motorcycle-involved crashes in Ohio occur during the summer riding season between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a stretch sometimes referred to as the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer.
The Crash Intersection
The crash occurred where West Alex Bell Road meets State Route 741 in Montgomery County.
No further details have been released about the motorcyclist's condition or whether additional charges may follow. The crash remains under review as part of the standard investigation into the collision.
