HOLLAND TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – A 36-year-old Holland man was hospitalized after apparently pedaling his bike into a moving motor vehicle on Holland’s North Side on Friday evening.
According to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Cal Keuning, Juan Maldonado was cycling on 136th Avenue around 9:30 PM when he went into the side of James Visser’s vehicle that was crossing the roadway at Quincy Street. The 62-year-old Holland motorist, who was not hurt, told deputies that he had stopped for a stop sign and had pulled forward when the collision occurred.
Maldonado, who was not helmeted, was taken to Holland Hospital in stable condition for treatment for internal injuries. The incident remains under investigation.
The collision comes as a trial period for bike paths had narrowed E. 8th Street between Chicago Drive and US-31 to one lane in each direction east of Holland ended earlier on Friday. In an appearance on Friday’s “WHTC Talk of the Town” program, Sergeant Dan Kender of the Traffic Services Unit with the Holland Department of Public Safety was all for these bike paths becoming permanent. “I know I’ve been on a lot of committees where a lot of individuals from bike groups are pushing for this, and I think it’s a good thing,” Kender explained. “It’s something that we have to get used to, in all honesty.”
