OHP Encourages Drivers To Look Out For Motorcycles After Deadly Sand Springs Crash

A Mannford biker is dead after troopers said he tried to avoid a crash while an SUV was entering an intersection.

The crash happened in Sand Springs at Highway 97 and West 55th Street South, where the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said 55-year-old John George of Mannford died Sunday.

Witnesses told OHP the driver of an SUV was heading east on West 55th Street South and came to a stop. When the driver decided to go, OHP said George was going south on the highway and swerved, trying to avoid a crash.

Troopers said George lost control and was thrown from his bike, then hit the SUV.

"At this time, it appears that they didn't see the motorcycle,” OHP Trooper Mark Southall said.

Southall said the SUV driver stayed on scene and was cooperative. He said witnesses also helped troopers understand what happened.

"Witnesses told us that the motorcycle was kind of toward the back of a pack of cars and that maybe the motorcyclist got mixed up in the shuffle with the cars and wasn't seen by the SUV driver at the time,” he said.

Southall encourages drivers to take the extra time to look for motorcycles, especially as more bikers may be getting out on the roads for the summer season.

"Especially in the year that we've had, we don't need any more tragedy. We just need to just slow down, take time, be a kind, courteous driver and just take that extra moment just to be safe,” Southall said.

No one else was hurt in the crash. The district attorney will decide whether or not to file any charges.