Motorcyclist dead after crash with a car on Joplin’s 32nd Street

Joplin Police state that Monday shortly after eleven a.m. a woman Sharon Fisher sixty seven years of age was driving a car was turning off of 32nd street was hit by a motorcycle from the opposite direction. Christopher Eskandari twenty three years old of Joplin was riding the motorcycle that was involved in the crash. Mr. Eskandari was pronounced dead at the scene. "We responded to an injury accident involving a motorcycle and a car," says Corporal Dan Haskins. "(We) got out here and found out that - unfortunately found out that it was a fatality crash with the motorcyclist being killed in the crash." Sharon Fisher was treated and released at a later time. The Joplin Police Department is still investigating the crash at this time.

I was leery to read this article, but yet hopeful. With each article or notice of news on the television in regards to motorcycle crashes I sit and wait hoping to hear alive or on the way to recovery. I left this article with the same fear as I did in the beginning that death was shortly to follow.

The article was found to be well written and informative at http://www.koamtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11637437 . It would have been better if the motorcyclist beat all odds and was still alive. But atlas no, I was let down. The partial quote from Corporal Dan Haskins, “it was a fatality crash with the motorcyclist being killed in the crash,” I had heard these words before. As you can see at http://www.ok.gov/health/documents/McycleTBI.pdf the equations though speaking in Oklahoma areas are undeniably accurate. Per mile traveled, persons on a motorcycle are approximately 14 times more likely to die and 3 times as likely to be injured in a crash as occupants of passenger cars. This information pulled from http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/s090303.htm . Since 1997, the number of motorcycle fatalities has increased 141 percent, an increase that far exceeds that of any other form of transportation. In fact, the number of motorcycle fatalities in recent years has been more than double the number of deaths in each year from accidents in the transportation modes of aviation, rail, marine, and pipeline combined. In 2007, for example, 5,154 motorcyclists died in crashes, and motorcycle fatalities now account for more than 13 percent of all motor vehicle crash fatalities. In 1997, 2,116 motorcyclists died. Even more staggering are the increases in injuries in 2006, for example, 88,000 motorcycle injuries were estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and in 2007, 103,000.

I was involved in a motorcycle accident and it changed my life forever, these machines are not toys. Motorcycles are a lot of fun, but can be deadly if not taken seriously and to be sure to take all safety precautions possible no matter how you look. I was a avid helmet wearer but my husband complained a lot of being too hot wearing the helmets. I only thank God that we had our helmets on or that road would have had our brain matter all over it. Believe me when I say I love to ride motorcycles; I have ridden since I was less than five years old. This motorcycle was wonderful my husband and I spent a lot of alone time together; he loved this as much as I did. Feeling the wind in your hair, looking at the ground passing by under your feet, it was a adrenalin rush like none other. I guess I won’t crawl on another one with fear of losing my life, my life affects a lot of people and I know that now. I have a lot to live for so unlike this gentleman that was killed. I have time to fix and make amends with what I want to do and where I want to go. I thank God each day that I am alive, as I star at my horrible scars it is only but a reminder of what could have been .