Sheriff’s Office Issues Reminders after Motorcycle Crash

Road construction is forcing the closure of several highways this summer – including Highway 23 between Fond du Lac and Rosendale, and Highway 45 south of Fond du Lac. But the sheriff’s office says drivers are continuing to dodge barricades and try to take the roads that are under construction. 

Captain Ryan Waldschmidt asks drivers to avoid the roads, and give construction crews room to safely do their jobs. He says “the only vehicles that should be on those roads are residents or people that need to get to a house on the road. And we just ask that people respect those barricades, follow those detours, and give yourself a couple extra minutes to take the long way around.”

Two people were seriously injured in a motorcycle crash along a closed and ripped up section of Highway 45 on Monday night. Waldschmidt says so far – investigators have found no reason why the bike should have been on that road. 

He adds that the barricades are safety measures for both the construction crews and motorists, and “certainly it’s dangerous to be in a four-wheeled vehicle in a
construction zone like this, but now you’re down to two wheels, which have even
less ability to control – especially on uneven surfaces. And in this case they
were traveling on a portion of the highway that was completely tore up.”

Waldschmidt also tells us the crash on Monday night “was a combination of all different kinds of factors that were
completely preventable. There was no reason for him to be in the construction
zone – that we’re aware of at this point anyways. Number two, they didn’t have
their helmets on. And number three, alcohol appears to be a factor in this
crash. So there were definitely a lot of things working against the
circumstances.”