A deadly accident on Interstate 190 ties up traffic for hours during the morning commute Tuesday. It was a series of events that led to the deadly crash. It all started with a broken down van stopped in the right hand lane near the top of northbound north Grand Island bridge. As the sun was rising 32-year-old John Zbock Jr., a husband and father from Cheektowaga, was heading to work on his motorcycle. When crossing the bridge toward Niagara Falls Zbock apparently noticed too late that traffic was slowing for the disabled van. "A red pickup truck was right behind the van and starting to slow down when a motorcyclist behind them tried to take evasive action," says Capt. Michael Nigrelli of the New York State Police.
Zbock hit the pickup truck on the driver side. "The motorcycle and the operator of the motorcycle went airborne, landing on the bridge deck in the left lane underneath a tractor trailer that was in the passing lane of the northbound traffic," explains Capt. Nigrelli.
Zbock did not survive. No one in the other vehicles was hurt. "Why he didn't see the hazard in front of him that other motorist had seen and appropriately adjusted their speed to... we'll never know," says Nigrelli.
The crash closed the northbound bridge for nearly three hours and while that was going on police say curious southbound drivers looking at the accident scene caused a five-car pile-up in the other direction. "People have a tendency to look and see what's going on and unfortunately that's the worst thing you can do," says Nigrelli.
No one was injured in the second crash, but for a while the only way on or off the island was the south island bridges. "You take a lot of traffic volume, people in a hurry to get where they got to get to and I've been saying this for a long time, a lot of these accidents are human error, simply put," says Nigrelli.
There is now a trust fund set up to help the three young children who lost their father in the motorcycle crash. Donations can be made to the Zbock Family Trust through the Next Financial Group, 6631 Main St., Williamsville, NY 14221.
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