09/15/2026
Im sad to say that we lost a fellow motorcyclist and freind up here in the northwoods in the town of Spooner yesterday .At 7:45 AM a local gentleman from Shell Lake who was also a fellow firefighter and EMT from the shell lake fire department. Lost his life in a motorcycle versus truck accident in front of the new south Kwik Trip in Spooner. This also hits home with me considering that I just recently retired after 26 years from the Stone Lake fire department and the shell lake fire department was a mutual aid partner neighboring town to us. From the preliminary information that I have received and read and saw pictures of this appears to be a right away violation between a pick up truck and this gentleman's motorcycle. The motorcycle was heading southbound out of Spooner towards shell lake and the pick up truck pulled out in front of him, coming out out of the street by the Kwik Trip in front of him. From what I'm gathering so far, this was clearly a right of way violation on the part of the pick up truck. This happens way too often in our world of motorcyclists where the people wether being a automobile, car truck, etc. do not recognize us being a smaller object and end up, pulling out in front of us . Way too many motorcycle fatalities happen because of this! Myself being the district director for our north western region of the state ABATE of wisconsin district 6 state motorcycle rights, organization, repeatedly sees this happen within our state that's why we try to educate the general public and drivers along with classes at high schools and driver education classes to please watch for motorcyclists ! We constantly are  putting out yellow yard signs and having motorcycle awareness rallies throughout the state at busy intersections  holding up signs saying LOOK TWICE SAVE A LIFE !  Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of this gentleman, and we all are thinking of you in your time of grieving. I can just imagine this is also a tremendous tragedy for the driver of the truck involved .I as district director will be watching this unfold and will be reaching out to the family in some capacity in the near future . I recently two days before this happened to hit a deer on my motorcycle and was lucky enough to be standing here writing this post. We as motorcyclists know the risks we take riding a motorcycle, so it is so important that we all be aware of our surroundings always look for the other guy and ride defensively ! we cannot control the future, but if we all work together, we can try to ride safely and look out for each other! Love you all everyone ! be safe, and I will see you in the wind! 🏍🇺🇸😏
