Man Seriously Hurt, Toddler Riding With Him Injured When Electric Dirt Bike and Work Truck Collide on Mercury Drive in Grand Haven Township

By TruckCrash News Desk · Published August 26, 2026

What Happened

A 25-year-old Grand Haven man was seriously injured and a 20-month-old girl riding behind him suffered minor injuries when the electric dirt bike they were on collided with a work truck on Mercury Drive in Grand Haven Township on Wednesday evening, according to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said the crash happened at about 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, on Mercury Drive near 148th Avenue, in front of a business, WWMT News Channel 3 reported. The man was riding the electric dirt bike eastbound on the bike path that runs along Mercury Drive, with the toddler on the back of the bike, when it was struck by a Ford work truck that was pulling out of the business’s parking lot, according to the sheriff’s office.

Investigators said both vehicles were traveling at low speeds at the time of the collision. The truck’s driver, a 28-year-old West Olive man, was not hurt, WWMT reported. Neither the man on the dirt bike nor the little girl was wearing a helmet, according to deputies.

The man was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. The girl, also a Grand Haven resident, suffered minor injuries. Their names were not released. WOOD TV8 also reported on the crash. Reporting: WWMT News Channel 3 and WOOD TV8, with information from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.

The Investigation: What Happens Next

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the collision. Crashes at driveway and parking-lot crossings of multi-use paths typically turn on questions of sight lines and timing: what each operator could see, when the truck entered the path crossing, and how fast each party was moving. Deputies noted that both vehicles were moving at low speeds, which investigators will weigh alongside physical evidence at the scene and any surveillance video from the business the truck was leaving.

Investigators will also document the injuries, the condition of the bike and truck, and the layout of the path where it crosses the driveway. Any decision about citations or charges would come after the investigation is complete and, if warranted, review by prosecutors. The sheriff’s office had not announced any citations as of Wednesday night.

The Legal Picture

Q1: How does Michigan insurance treat a crash between a motor vehicle and a dirt bike on a bike path? When a motor vehicle such as a truck is involved in a collision with a person on a bike, moped or similar small vehicle, Michigan’s no-fault system is generally the starting point: personal injury protection (PIP) benefits can cover medical care regardless of fault, typically through the injured person’s own auto policy, a household policy, or the policy of an involved motor vehicle, depending on the circumstances. Our plain-language guide to Michigan no-fault insurance explains how those priority rules work.

Q2: Does it matter that the truck was a work vehicle? It can. When a vehicle is being used for an employer’s business, the employer’s commercial auto policy is often the one that responds, and commercial policies frequently carry different limits than personal policies. Questions about how commercial-vehicle claims differ are covered in our resource on truck accident cases in Michigan.

Q3: Who is responsible when a vehicle crosses a bike path at a driveway? In general, Michigan drivers crossing a sidewalk or shared-use path to enter a roadway must yield to path users, while path riders also have duties of care. How those general rules apply to any specific crash depends entirely on facts investigators establish.

These are general questions and answers about Michigan law. Nothing here assumes anything about the cause of this crash, which remains under investigation, and nothing here should be read as a suggestion that anyone involved was at fault.

This Stretch of Road

Mercury Drive is a main east–west connector through Grand Haven Township, linking the Grand Haven area with US-31 and the communities along the Grand River. The corridor near 148th Avenue mixes residential neighborhoods with businesses whose driveways cross the paved path that parallels the road — a common configuration in West Michigan townships, where multi-use paths carry bicycles, e-bikes and increasingly popular electric dirt bikes alongside pedestrian traffic.

Every driveway that crosses a path of this kind is a potential conflict point between path users and turning vehicles, particularly in the early evening when business traffic and recreational riders share the corridor. The sheriff’s office has not said whether any feature of this crossing contributed to Wednesday’s collision.

If You Saw This Crash

Anyone who was on Mercury Drive near 148th Avenue around 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, and saw the collision or the moments leading up to it — or any nearby business with exterior camera footage — is encouraged to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office. Eyewitness accounts of where each vehicle was and how the crossing unfolded can be important to an accurate reconstruction.

More on This Crash

• WWMT News Channel 3: Man, baby hurt following dirt bike crash in Grand Haven Township
• WOOD TV8: Dirt bike crash leaves man, toddler hurt in Grand Haven Township