Fail to yield Missouri motorcycle wreck claims one, injures two

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says that a Saturday morning accident east of Springfield, Missouri, sent three people to a hospital. The wreck involved a Dodge pickup truck and a motorcycle. Tragically, the driver of the motorcycle succumbed to his injuries Sunday morning, according to state police.

The wreck was reported around 11:00 Saturday morning at an intersection along Highway 125. Authorities say that a 24-year-old Walnut Grove, Missouri, resident was driving the pickup and failed to yield at a stop sign. Police believe that the pickup truck pulled out in front of the motorcycle, which had two people aboard.

The driver of the motorcycle, a 44-year-old Strafford man, was airlifted to Mercy Hospital in Springfield with serious injuries. He died around 9:00 Sunday morning. A passenger from the bike, a 44-year-old Mt. Grove woman, was also seriously injured. There has not been an update on her condition. The driver of the pickup was also hospitalized.

Motorcycle accidents can be severe in any kind of setting. There can be a myriad of reasons that may lead to a motorcycle accident. However, our Columbia, Missouri, area readers may not be aware that the failure of a driver to see a motorcycle happens in a majority of motorcycle accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that a staggering 75 percent of all motorcycle accidents involve at least one other vehicle. Significantly, among accidents between a bike and another vehicle, roughly two-thirds of the accidents involve a situation where the other driver failed to see the approaching motorcycle and crossed into the right-of-way of the bike, according to NHTSA statistics.

Source: KOLR 10 News, “UPDATE: Man Dies in Motorcycle Versus Truck Accident,” Sept. 14, 2013