CAPE CORAL, Fla. — May 24th, 2010 - that's the day that changed Cape Coral biker Anthony Guehlstorf's life forever.
“We were out on motorcycles, I was going westbound and I got…a vehicle ran a stoplight and ran through four lanes of traffic and T-boned me,” says Guehlstorf, of the accident.
It left him with a broken collar bone, landing him in the hospital for five days. Because of what happened that day, he says he always tries to ride with caution.
“The situation, I was a hundred percent not at fault - but you still have to worry about everybody else whenever you’re riding," he says.
That same worry is felt by other rides, like Jamie Knatz.
“If we speed around you, it might be for a reason. Because maybe there’s a pocket that’s more dangerous for us to be in, and we’ve gotta get ahead of you," she says.
Kenneth Campbell says he's been riding for fifty years, and in that time, the rules of the road haven't changed much.
“If a tractor trailer slams his breaks on, it’s not three seconds to think of what to do - it’s three seconds to get out of that situation or you’ll die. So it’s anticipating other vehicles, what they’re gonna do. That’s what makes it dangerous," he says.
That sense of danger is backed up by the stats: Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reporting that of the nearly 2,500 crashes that have happened so far in 2022, 59 of them were motorcycle crashes, with five of them fatal - and that's just Lee County.
Neighboring Charlotte County reports 25 motorcycle wrecks with 3 fatalities, and Collier County shows 14 crashes so far this year, with one fatality.
Those numbers a glaring reminder to always watch for motorcycles.
“Please, watch out for us. Be careful. We have just as much right to be on the road as you do," says Campbell.
