Mason City, IA- Two North Iowa men die less than five days apart after hitting deer while riding a motorcycle.
The Iowa State Patrol says David Murphy from Forest City, IA died after hitting a deer on his motorcycle southeast of Forest City.
It’s the second fatal accident on motorcycle in less than week. Todd Ranes from Lake Mills, IA died Saturday after he hit a deer on his motorcycle just north of Forest City.
The latest numbers show that roughly one out of six people who die in motorcycle crashes every year died after hitting deer.
Jim Rodemaker has revved up Harley’s for more than 40 years. He’s sold them at Harley Davidson of Mason City for the past four years.
"It's just a lot more open you feel the freedom of the road the wind, I mean there's a lot of things about it that are just great," he said.
It's that freedom, and lack of protection that's causing concern on area highways. Rodemaker is well aware of the dangers on the road.
"It doesn't have to be a deer, it can be something as small as a raccoon, you know you have to be very aware of what's going on around you, other people, you're a lot smaller than you are in a car so you're not as visible," Rodemaker said.
Virginia Fransiscus is in charge of marketing at the Mason City Harley shop, she just completed the motorcycle safety training course, and is in the market for a new bike.
"I want to start out with something small, just ‘til I’m comfortable, but ideally I would like to have a soft tail, a soft tail standard if we really want to get picky," she said.
She's also drawn to the freedom of riding a motorcycle. She says taking the training course is important for all riders.
"Anybody who's even interested in learning how to ride should take the safety class because it weighed a bigger factor in me with how much I really want to ride."
Both riders say deer can be a major hazard on the road.
"Last year I was very close to a deer, I was probably when I went by, from me to you away, that's gettin to be a larger dander than people would like to admit," said Rodemaker
Fransiscus said, "don't panic don't swerve because when you're traveling at a high rate of speed and you swerve something bad is pretty likely to happen."
In 2007 41 of the 61 riders who died weren't wearing helmets. In Iowa people still have a choice weather to wear a helmet or not.
“You know it's a safety factor and I should wear a helmet all the time but I don't wear a helmet all the time we all know we should," said Rodemaker.
