[UPDATE July 28, 2025: There was another fatal hit-and-run in the Chicago suburbs over the weekend, after this piece was written. Someone hit a 19-year-old rider on a Kawasaki and just left them there to die. We don't know what happened yet, but this has to stop.]
Original piece follows.
If you're a motorcyclist and you ride on the road, then you probably also pay attention to local news wherever you live. And you inevitably see stories about crashes in your area. Some are fatal, and some aren't; here in Illinois, so far our state Department of Transportation reports a grand total of 75 motorcyclist fatalities due to crashes as of July 25, 2025.
Anecdotally, I can tell you it feels like I've been seeing a lot of crashes (many fatal, some not) in the past couple of months. These figures always go up this time of year, because summer is high riding season and more bikes are out on the road than in, say, January. So, I wanted to see if my feeling was accurate, or if the data would show something different if I dove into it.
Looking back at historic Illinois motorcycle fatal crash data, there were 145 deaths in 2024; 165 in 2023; 146 in 2022, 167 in 2021, and 149 in 2020. Now, we're just approaching the end of July 2025 right now, so there's still slightly less than half a year to go before we'll know the true total of Illinois motorcycle crash fatalities for this calendar year.
While it's true that some of them are single-vehicle crashes, most of the ones I've seen in the past couple of months have involved at least two vehicles. Two were hit-and-runs, where another vehicle hit a motorcyclist and then fled the scene.
Would you like to hazard a guess as to how many have involved a vehicle that isn't the motorcycle making a sudden turn, unexpectedly putting themselves into the path of the motorcyclist who then ends up crashing into them?
I'll give you a hint; it's more than two. And in most cases, a truck or car or other vehicle busting a sudden left when a motorcyclist has the right-of-way and is just riding straight often results in a dead rider.
I know the people who need to read this probably won't, but you need to stop doing this. Obviously, we're all humans and sometimes we misjudge things or make mistakes; riders included. But if you're driving a car or truck, and you make a mistake, you're probably going to walk away from it. A motorcyclist, bicyclist, pedestrian, or other person or people who aren't riding along in a car or truck may not be so lucky. Isn't that worth an extra head check to make sure you're really clear to make the move you're trying to make?
That One Sketchy Intersection (You Probably Have One, Too)
Of all the recent motorcycle crashes in the area that I've looked at, there's one in particular that stands out. As you might know (or at least guess), there are good motorcycle roads near Chicago; they're just not in Chicago. Anyone who lives and rides in any major city can probably relate; you have to get away from the packed urban center to find the really fun stuff.
My partner and I have been riding together for years (decades at this point), and we've found some really fun stuff out to the west, in much more rural areas. Places with curving, winding roads, big sweepers, high speed limits, and relatively little traffic (well, if you get out early enough on a weekend morning).
On the way back, although we try to avoid Randall Road like the plague, we'll usually end up on it for a block or two. And frequently, we'll be headed southbound on Randall Road and turn left at Red Gate in suburban St. Charles.
Since we've been riding through and observing this intersection for years, we've noticed both traffic behavior, how the lights work, and signage changes. Randall Road, if you know it, is a place that really and truly sucks to ride. At its busiest, it's a parking lot; and drivers seem to be particularly aggro here, making it even less fun (and potentially more dangerous). That's why we try to avoid it as much as possible.
For many years, turning off of Randall Road onto Red Gate in either direction (Randall is a north/south road; Red Gate is east/west, and is much less busy) was done on a flashing yellow arrow, accompanied by a sign that instructs drivers to yield to oncoming traffic if they're turning left.
Riding through there, we've literally commented over our intercoms about how sketchy and dangerous this intersection might be for riders. What if someone doesn't see you, and just keeps going?
With me so far? A couple of years ago, both the arrow light and the accompanying signage changed. It became an intersection where vehicles wanting to make a left turn would have a very clear red or green arrow. The sign simply says that you can't make a left turn on a red arrow. Much easier to understand, right? Either your arrow is green, or it's red. Either way, theoretically, you know what you should do if you're in that lane.
On July 22, 2025, shortly after midnight, a rider was going north on Randall Road when a Range Rover was in the left turn lane on southbound Randall Road, waiting to turn left at Red Gate. The motorcycle and the Range Rover came together in that intersection, and although the rider was transported to a nearby hospital, they died of their injuries.
The part that really gets me, reading the local police press release, are the lines, "The driver reported an impact to the rear of her vehicle, which she initially believed to be a collision with an animal. Upon exiting the SUV, she discovered damage to the rear passenger-side panel," and also "A witness (remaining anonymous due to continued investigation) at the scene informed the driver that her vehicle had collided with a motorcycle."
As I said above, this is an intersection I've been riding through for years. The signage is much clearer than it used to be, and to be absolutely sure, I traveled out there yesterday (July 24, 2025; just two days after that crash) to confirm what the signage says now.
So, we know for sure that there couldn't have been a yellow arrow involved at this intersection, and thus, no potential yellow arrow confusion. Therefore, someone in this scenario was moving on a red light; that's the only possible way that this happened.
It's not yet clear which vehicle that was. But in any case, the motorcyclist (a 19-year-old, and their family and friends have a GoFundMe up for funeral expenses) is dead, and leaves many loved ones behind.
Did the Range Rover suddenly turn left, leaving the bike nowhere to go? The crash happened late at night, when it was dark out. Or did the bike fly through a red light? We don't know yet, but one thing I will say again here is this: If you're in a car or truck, and you're making any kind of turn, please double-check for other vehicles (or cyclists, or pedestrians) around you before you do. Please.
Do you have a known sketchy intersection in your area, one where you and your buddies have been saying for years that someone's going to die because of it? Let's talk about it in the comments. And please, ride safe out there.
