Motorcyclist Hit, Seriously Injured By Ladder

HAVERHILL, MA – A 62-year-old BMW rider from Dracut, MA was seriously injured on Saturday when he was hit by a ladder that came out of the back of a pickup truck while he was riding his vintage 1985 motorcycle southbound on I-495 here.

The rider, whose name wasn’t provided in a press release by the Massachusetts State Police, crashed in the roadway after being struck by the ladder. A passing motorist described the ladder in a Facebook post, saying it “looked like one of those lightweight aluminum ones.”

The motorcyclist was transported to Lawrence General Hospital before being airlifted by medical helicopter to a Boston area hospital for treatment of serious injuries.  

The ladder was carried in a 2009 GMC Sierra pickup driven by an unidentified 38-year-old man from Haverhill, who remained at the scene of the crash and was cited for operating with an unsecured load. 

About Bud Wilkinson

Bud Wilkinson writes the "My Ride" classic car feature for Hearst Connecticut Media Group's newspapers in CT and for the chain's CT Insider website. The weekly feature began in 2016 in the "Republican-American" newspaper in Waterbury, CT. He also wrote the "RIDE-CT" motorcycle column in that newspaper from 2005 until 2025. A graduate of Vermont Academy prep school, he holds a B.A. degree journalism from Ohio Wesleyan University. He is the recipient of a Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award in 1992 and a 1991-92 regional Emmy Award for commentary. He currently rides a 1987 BMW R 80 RT and a 2014 Triumph Bonneville and drives a 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata.