Fifteen minutes after 5:00pm on May 14th, two vehicles collided on EB Route EE at Southeast 301 Road in Johnson County, Missouri. As two vehicles were entering an intersection at the same time, a mini motorcycle, traveling northbound on Lee Street, hit a Ford F-150. The driver of the mini motorcycle, a 37-year-old man, sustained serious injuries in the crash and was taken to the hospital privately.
Motorcycles, and other vehicles that lack basic safety equipment like roll-over cages and seatbelts, are inherently more dangerous than typical cars and trucks. While it is extremely important to exercise caution when driving near these vehicles, it is equally as important for the drivers of the motorcycles to be more careful than usual as well. Operating a smaller, quicker vehicle is more dangerous and more susceptible to reckless driving. However, this does not mean that small vehicles are exempt from the law—these bikes must abide by the same traffic laws as larger vehicles to ensure everyone makes it to their destination safely. It is a crime to ignore traffic laws, and those that do ignore the laws should be punished for their behavior.