BUCYRUS — May is National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and lawn-mowing season is in full force. Sometimes, the two do not mix.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, in 2018, there were 3,317 traffic crashes involving motorcycles that resulted in 146 deaths and 2,842 injuries. Although total crashes and fatalities decreased as compared to 2017, 77 percent of crashes involving motorcycles resulted in at least one injury or death.

Several local residents have posted photos on social media recently warning others to refrain from mowing their grass clippings into the city streets and country roads. Since grass clippings are mostly water, they pose a threat to motorcycle riders similar to ice on the roadway.

Local motorcycle enthusiast and Bucyrus resident Jessica Knell recently posted a photo she took on Irving Street of grass clippings that someone had mowed into the street.

Her post read, “It has begun, beware of Irving Street.”

She also posted the Ohio Revised Code 4511.74 that reads in part:

Placing injurious material on highway.

(A) No person shall place or knowingly drop upon any part of a highway, lane, road, street, or alley any tacks, bottles, wire, glass, nails, or other articles which may damage or injure any person, vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, or animal traveling along or upon such highway, except such substances that may be placed upon the roadway by proper authority for the repair or construction thereof.

Some municipalities have their own ordinances against putting items in the streets that can be hazardous to others.

Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke said the city does have an ordinance against putting anything into the street.

“Snow, ice, grass, leaves, trash, are all things that need to be kept out of the street. Leaves and grass can be dangerous to motorcyclists, especially if they are wet. They can also get into the city’s drains and cause problems,” Koepke said.

Galion Police Chief Brian Saterfield said his city also has an ordinance and it is enforced by his officers.

“Typically, we give a warning on the first offense and then we may cite if there are additional violations,” Saterfield said.

Last Monday, one of Saterfield’s officers stopped at a residence on South Boston Street when he noticed grass that had been mowed into the roadway.

“We are able to enforce this ordinance,” Saterfield said.