Spring is rolling in. So are motorcyclist fatalities. What can we do?

James Hooks, 38, was driving his 1985 Honda east on Grand River Avenue in Howell on Monday, April 10, one day before his birthday. He was a father and fiancé. He was a world record holder for lifting and body-building. He was a cancer survivor. He was an executive sous chef at a beloved local restaurant.

All that ended when he collided with a 2012 Dodge Ram exiting a nearby market. Now, the Livingston County community is raising money to help his family get by.

Three weeks later, 128 miles away in Holland near Lake Michigan, a 28-year-old motorcyclist died from injuries sustained in a crash with a Volkswagen Passat.

And so it begins.

Every year in Michigan, as the seasons change and the leaves grow back on the trees, motorcyclists start to die. The blame is spread in all directions — motorcyclists should drive more carefully, drivers should be more aware of motorcyclists on the roadways, the state needs to enforce stricter helmet laws. But so far, nothing has really changed.

According to data compiled by the Skilled Motorcyclist Association — Responsible, Trained and Educated Riders (SMARTER), an education and advocacy-focused nonprofit based in Michigan, crashing a motorcycle is getting more dangerous, and the situation isn't helped by the state's repeal of its helmet requirement in 2012.

"We just simply aren't doing the job in the state of Michigan," SMARTER CEO Dan Petterson told The Sentinel in 2022. "There are a lot of things wrong with the motorcyclist safety effort in Michigan, and the data tells us we aren't making progress."

Petterson believes the first step is reinstating the helmet law.

"Research tells us wearing a helmet is really the only scientifically proven method of saving motorcyclists' lives and the quickest, easiest, cheapest way (to ensure helmet-wearing) is to reinstate the law," Petterson said.

For now, motorcyclists must pass a safety course or have had their license for at least two years, plus a minimum of $20,000 in third-party medical insurance, before riding without a helmet. They must also be at least 21. But there's no system for enforcement, Petterson said.

"There's no sticker on my license plate or anything to verify I've met those requirements," Petterson said. "The law as written isn't enforceable, and there's no effort to make it enforceable. It was simply a way to pacify a few legislators that felt there should be requirements of some sort."

In total, there was a 16.3 percent increase in Michigan's motorcyclist fatality rate per 100,000 registrations between 2012 and 2021, and the average number of fatalities per year increased 22.73 percent during the same period.

For some bikers, there's safety and education and statistics. But there's also God.

Just days after the latest fatality along the lakeshore, well over 100 bikers gathered at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds in Park Township for the annual Blessing of the Bikes. Shari Garcia, of Holland Township, led them in prayer.

"For us, just to have an opportunity to pray over these bikers before they're really hitting into the riding season is something we feel is so important to try to help reduce those fatalities on motorcycles," she told The Sentinel.

"It's calling out to the riders and giving an opportunity ... it brings the power of the Holy Spirit."

Lee White from Grand Rapids, in attendance at the event, has lost friends of his own.

"Someone pulled off a side road and hit them," he said. "People that are not paying attention, people that are going ahead and being on their cellphones and they're oblivious to a big bike like that going down the road next to them."

White said he's come close to being hit multiple times in the last year.

"I had a lady pull out in front of me in broad daylight," he said. "And it isn't like you can't see this vehicle. It doesn't happen that often, but I've had it happen probably three times in the last year. It's amazing. I leave my brights on and my running lights on for that simple reason, and you'd think they'd be able to see something that big and that visible."

But at least, White said, bikers have each other.

"It's amazing the community of riders out there," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're in a different group or whatever. This is what bikers do for each other, because we're all on the same page, doing something we all enjoy together."

At a time when bikers need support, donations from attendees at Blessing of the Bikes went to local nonprofits — a farmstead community for adults with disabilities called Benjamin's Hope and local animal shelter Harbor Humane.

— Contact editor Cassandra Lybrink at clybrink@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @CassLybrink.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Spring is rolling in. So are motorcyclist fatalities. What can we do?