The driver of the SUV, Donna Johnson, a 60-year-old Gainesville resident, was charged with failure to yield while turning left after she collided with a blue motorcycle that was headed south on Ga. 60 as she was attempting to turn left onto Linwood Drive, said Georgia State Patrol Operator Brandon Marcus.

While southbound traffic backed up on Thompson Bridge, emergency personnel loaded the male driver of the motorcycle, Edwin Louk, a 48-year-old Murrayville resident, into a Hall County medical vehicle and took him to Northeast Georgia Medical Center without activating the vehicle’s lights or sirens. Lt. Danny Pittman with the Gainesville Fire Department said Louk appeared to be stable.

The wreck backed up traffic and blocked the southbound lanes of Ga. 60 for about an hour during lunchtime traffic Thursday.

Thursday’s wreck happened in the last days of a statewide campaign to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes, injuries and fatalities on Georgia’s roads.

Proponents of the campaign highlight that more than two-thirds of all car-motorcycle crashes are not caused by motorcyclists.

The most common safety problem for motorcycles is that they’re often hidden in a driver’s blind spot or missed at intersections due to their smaller profile. In fact, most motorcycle crashes occur during daylight hours at intersections, according to a news release by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month is a campaign sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Department of Driver Services and the Georgia division of American Bikers Active Toward Education, and occurs as motorcyclists return to the roads in the spring and summer months.