Two separate motorcycle crashes on curves just west of Menear’s Bend sent two motorcyclists to area hospitals with serious injuries over the span of four days last week.
The most recent was on Thursday afternoon, May 22, when, according to Oregon State Police, James Arthur Walter II, 58, of Albany, was eastbound on Hwy. 20 on a Honda cruiser when the motorcycle failed to negotiate a curve near Milepost 34 and Walter hit the guardrail.
He was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis with major injuries. The motorcycle was towed. No other vehicles were involved.
The crash was the second in that area, involving a motorcycle, in four days. Early Sunday afternoon, May 18, motorcyclist Arnold Alex Pirnie, 77, of Caldwell, Idaho, was severely injured when his eastbound Honda Goldwing failed to negotiate a curve also near Milepost 34, just west of Menear’s. Rescue personnel at the May 22 crash were unsure if it was the same curve.
Pirnie’s motorcycle struck a westbound Ford F150 pickup truck and he lost control, then hit a westbound Toyota RAV4 SUV head-on.
Pirnie was life-flighted to Sacred Heart RiverBend Hospital in Springfield.
The driver of the Toyota, Jingyuan Dang, 35, of Corvallis, and passengers Junun Dang, 61, and Quiman Zhang, 64, both of Bownmanville, Ontario, Canada, were transported to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital as a precaution, according to OSP.
The driver of the Ford truck, Michael Leroy Schneider, 69, and his passenger, Jo Anne Schneider, 67, both of Santa, Idaho, were able to leave the scene in their vehicle, which was drivable.