Official: Unsafe lane changes cause fatal motorcycle crash

A 63-year-old man was killed Tuesday morning in a motorcycle-vs.-vehicle crash that Dodge County officials say was caused by unsafe lane changes.

Deputies were called to Highway 151 at the intersection with Hemlock Road in the town of Trenton just after 9 a.m. Tuesday for a report of a vehicle crash, according to a release.

A 64-year-old man from Randolph driving a 2012 Toyota RAV 4 merged onto Highway 151 from the County Road A on-ramp and tried to change lanes to turn east onto Hemlock Road, investigators said.

Witnesses told deputies a 63-year-old man, from rural Ripon, was driving a 2013 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and changed lanes from the right lane to the left lane as the Toyota SUV merged onto Highway 151, according to the release. Then the Toyota SUV merged to the left lane into the path of the motorcycle.

When the motorcycle hit the front, quarter panel and tire of the Toyota SUV, the motorcycle flipped over into the paved median of Highway 151 near Hemlock Road, investigators said. The motorcycle hit a curb and continued into the grassy median south of Hemlock Road.

The motorcycle driver was thrown off and landed about 10 feet away from the motorcycle, according to the release. The Toyota SUV stopped on the inside shoulder of the southbound lanes of Highway 151.

The motorcycle driver died at the scene, authorities said. The driver of the Toyota SUV and his passenger, a 62-year-old woman from rural Randolph, were not injured.

Officials said unsafe lane changes and failure to wear head protection are factors in the crash, but it remains under investigation.