Nanaimo RCMP is investigating another serious motorcycle crash that happened over the weekend.
It was the third serious collision involving a motorcycle on mid-Vancouver Island in the last week.
Police markings show where a driver pulled over to make a u-turn Saturday afternoon but when he made the turn, on Morden road, the 20-year-old driver did not see three motorcycles coming in the opposite direction.
“The motorcycles could not react in time,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, media relations officer for the Nanaimo RCMP.
“He pulled out on the road and tragically the first bike hit and then the second. The third biker managed to put the bike on the road and just got some road rash. The other two were significantly injured. One was airlifted to Victoria, the other taken to Nanaimo hospital.”
The first serious motorcycle crash happened on April 13 on Hammond Bay road. In that case, police say a vehicle turning left struck an oncoming motorcyclist.
Jeremy Olson says his brother Nathaniel Olson, was following his wife on her motorcycle when the collision sent him flying 30 feet into a ditch.
“Sixty seconds can change your life and very dramatically,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy says his brother Nathaniel lost his leg in the crash but it could’ve been much worse if a nurse had not stopped to help.
“She put this belt on him as a tourniquet, and it stopped, his femoral artery was bleeding out and so if she had not done that there’s no way he would have lived and so that was a miracle right there,” Olson said.
The second crash April 15 on Highway 4 in Whisky Creek, also involved a vehicle turning left, this time onto the highway. The motorcycle had two passengers. BC Ambulance airlifted both to Victoria.
Police say drivers need to be aware of who else is on the road as motorcycles cannot respond in the same way as cars do.
Jeremy says he wants drivers to realize motorcycles are not equal to other vehicles.
“We want drivers to be more aware that when you’re seeing a motorcycle out on the road, see a person, see the human that’s riding that motorcycle,” said Jeremy.
There’s a GoFundMe to help Jeremy’s brother, a Harmac millwright and a father of five, on his long road to recovery.
Kendall Hanson
