Motorcyclists left with lasting injuries after hitting hole left by unfinished MoDOT project
Two motorcyclists were thrown from their bike after hitting a hole created by a Missouri highway project. Hours after the crash
By SUSAN EL KHOURY
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ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Missouri (KMOV) — Two motorcyclists were thrown from their bike after hitting a hole created by a Missouri highway project. Now they want answers from the state.
On Oct. 3rd, Rick Gish and his friends were riding their motorcycles down Highway H. When the group reached the outskirts of St. Charles County, they drove through an area where MoDOT cut the road to replace a culvert.
“All I remember is going into the gravel,” recalled Gish, who was driving with his friend Tracy in the passenger seat behind him. “When I hit, boom it ejected us from the bike immediately.”
Gish, who wasn’t wearing a helmet that day, was treated at the hospital and released later that day.
“I had 3 fractured ribs, a slight concussion, and then severe road rash,” Gish said, who uses a cane to walk while he recovers.
His passenger spent three weeks in the hospital.
“I’m more terrified to the fact that my passenger will never walk right again because of the surgery she had to have on her left foot,” Gish added.
In a crash report, a St. Charles County police officer described Gish’s motorcycle hitting a hole then throwing him and his friend off the bike and into oncoming traffic. The officer wrote in the report, “the hole was filled in with gravel that had been washed away from a previous heavy rain causing a large hole in the pavement, especially hazardous to motorcycles.”
MoDOT turned down multiple interview requests for this story.
News 4 Investigates learned MoDOT started work on the highway on Sept. 27, almost a week before Gish and his friends drove through. Hours after the crash, Gish said crews brought more gravel to fill in the hole.
“It was not anything I could have done,” Gish said. “It was pure neglect from whoever was assigned to fix that piece of pavement.”
One of the last riders in the group that day was Donna Bunch, who says she watched the crash happen.
“It was every bit of a foot deep when we hit it that day,” Bunch said, pointing at where the crash happened.
Bunch keeps questioning why there wasn’t more warning. Even though the speed limit is 55 mph, she says the group slowed down because another motorcyclist stopped along the road.
“Everybody had already slowed down so much,” Bunch said. “We were only doing 35, 40 mph when he hit the hole.”
It was at that moment Bunch remembered seeing a hazard sign.
“It said uneven pavement,” Bunch added. “It was right on top of the hole.”
According to the St. Charles County Police crash report, the officer noted “two orange signs on either side of the culvert warned of the bump.”
“I just want somebody accountable for what happened that day, somebody needs to fix that road,” Bunch said.
The road project didn’t show up on the website MoDOT uses to list construction. News 4 Investigates tried to ask MoDOT about that, but never got a response.
News 4 reached out to county leaders to get answers. Council member Nancy Schneider, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann and State Sen. Bill Eigel all turned down interviews and pointed News 4 back to MoDOT.
In the weeks since the crash, Gish keeps looking back and wondering if something could have been done to prevent their pain.
“It just don’t make any sense,” Gish said. “It messed Tracy’s life up for the rest of her life.”
Since News 4 Investigates started questioning MoDOT about the project, the department sent crews to pave the road.
Gish’s friend who was hurt in the crash declined an interview and explained she hired a lawyer who advised her not to talk while they weigh their legal options.
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