{"id":309912,"date":"2025-10-17T05:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309912\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T05:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T05:18:13","slug":"jacksonville-woman-who-survived-crash-demands-harsher-penalties-for-drivers-who-hit-motorcyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309912\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville woman who survived crash demands harsher penalties for drivers who hit motorcyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A Jacksonville woman is pushing for tougher penalties and greater protections for motorcyclists, after surviving a crash that left her injured. <\/p>\n

Her fight also comes after the death of her husband in a separate motorcycle crash.<\/p>\n

Amber Stemple was involved in a crash in April on Roosevelt Boulevard near Timuquana Road. <\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Motorcycle deaths are dropping across Florida. But they\u2019re on the rise in Duval County, data shows<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

She was hit while riding her motorcycle and thrown from her bike. The driver who struck her was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to an arrest report.<\/p>\n

The mom of two still has the helmet with scratch marks she was wearing the day of the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the impact of where my head hit the ground,\u201d Stemple said.<\/p>\n

In addition to marks left on her helmet, another reminder of the crash is the scar on her left shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a scar from having a complete rotator cuff surgery,\u201d Stemple said. \u201cSo basically, that bone was separated.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the mom of two is healing, the pain associated with the crash is still there.<\/p>\n

She said it manifested itself in a different capacity this week during the sentencing of the woman who knocked her off her bike.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was frustrating and disappointing,\u201d Stemple said. \u201cIt was just so little like a slap on the hand. How the judge talked to her, like oh I better not see you again nothing about you hit a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to court documents, the driver, who News4JAX is not naming, pleaded no contest, was adjudicated guilty, and was sentenced to 12 months of probation, community service, 6-month license suspension and DUI school.<\/p>\n

Along with dealing with her crash, Stemple and her family are still reeling from the deadly motorcycle crash involving her husband last November.<\/p>\n

She said the Florida Highway Patrol told her he had hit the back of another car and died.<\/p>\n

Because of what happened to her and the death of her husband, she wants harsher penalties and more focus on safety for motorcyclists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be required for them to take a motorcycle course,\u201d Stemple said. \u201cWhen I took that course and started riding myself, I became a safer driver. S,o policy changes and making it a truly more biker-friendly community.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to data from the Florida Highway and Safety Motor Vehicles, there have been more than 300 motorcycle crashes in Duval County this year, resulting in more than 280 injuries and 37 deaths. <\/p>\n

There were 36 deaths all of last year and 32 in 2023.<\/p>\n

She said to make motorcyclists safer, she and others from the biker community are going to start advocating more.<\/p>\n

News4JAX reached out to the state attorney\u2019s office, asking about typical consequences for a person with a DUI hitting a motorcyclist.<\/p>\n

They responded with the following:<\/p>\n

\n

Every charge is determined from the facts of the incident and the applicable law. In this case, the defendant was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI and charged with a misdemeanor DUI. She pleaded no contest, was adjudicated guilty, and was sentenced to time already served, 12 months of probation, community service, DUI school, and other terms often handed down to a first-time offender with no previous criminal history. In this particular case, prosecutors made certain the defendant had insurance to cover damages from the accident and are determining a restitution amount for the victim that will be owed by the defendant. Additionally, the State declined requests by defense to reduce charges.<\/p>\n

David Chapman, Communications Director, State Attorney’s Office, 4th Circuit<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville woman is pushing for tougher penalties and greater protections for motorcyclists, after surviving…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":309913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-309912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115387819882291872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}