Des Moines Police say motorcycle and pedestrian crashes are increasing. Early Sunday morning, a 57-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a crash on Hickman Road. The motorcyclist was heading West on Hickman around 2:30 am Police believe he was speeding when he hit the curve and was thrown from his bike.”Lost control of his motorcycle, left the roadway and came to rest 40 yards West of the intersection, “Sgt. Paul Parizek said.Police say motorcycle crashes ending in serious injury or death are up 25% in Des Moines. Nick Laybon owns Des Moines Custom Motorcycle. Part of his job includes fixing damaged bikes. Laybon says riding experience, weather conditions and time of day play a big factor in crashes.”Choose the times you ride and choose wisely because there’s only two wheels on the ground, you don’t have four and you don’t have a cage around you,” Laybon said. Iowa is one of three states that don’t require riders of any age to wear a helmet.”When you look at the crashes we’re investigating where somebody’s seriously injured or killed, very rarely do we see helmets,” Parizek said. That’s not the only dangerous static rapidly rising. Twice the amount of pedestrians have been hit by cars compared to last year — and it’s only August. It’s becoming so common that while KCCI’s Scott Carpenter was asking Parizek about the issue, he was notified about a teenager hit by a car. KCCI followed the police to the scene. A teenager had minor injuries and investigators don’t believe the driver was able to avoid hitting the teenager. Parizek says they see a common trend in these accidents.”One of the factors that we see pretty consistently is low light, pedestrian steps into the street away from a crosswalk and they’re wearing dark clothing,” Parizek said.Des Moines police have investigated eight pedestrians hit by cars this year, three of which were fatal.
Des Moines Police say motorcycle and pedestrian crashes are increasing.
Early Sunday morning, a 57-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a crash on Hickman Road. The motorcyclist was heading West on Hickman around 2:30 am Police believe he was speeding when he hit the curve and was thrown from his bike.
“Lost control of his motorcycle, left the roadway and came to rest 40 yards West of the intersection,” Sgt. Paul Parizek said.
Police say motorcycle crashes ending in serious injury or death are up 25% in Des Moines.
Nick Laybon owns Des Moines Custom Motorcycle. Part of his job includes fixing damaged bikes. Laybon says riding experience, weather conditions and time of day play a big factor in crashes.
“Choose the times you ride and choose wisely because there’s only two wheels on the ground, you don’t have four and you don’t have a cage around you,” Laybon said.
Iowa is one of three states that don’t require riders of any age to wear a helmet.
“When you look at the crashes we’re investigating where somebody’s seriously injured or killed, very rarely do we see helmets,” Parizek said.
That’s not the only dangerous static rapidly rising.
Twice the amount of pedestrians have been hit by cars compared to last year — and it’s only August. It’s becoming so common that while KCCI’s Scott Carpenter was asking Parizek about the issue, he was notified about a teenager hit by a car.
KCCI followed the police to the scene. A teenager had minor injuries and investigators don’t believe the driver was able to avoid hitting the teenager.
Parizek says they see a common trend in these accidents.
“One of the factors that we see pretty consistently is low light, pedestrian steps into the street away from a crosswalk and they’re wearing dark clothing,” Parizek said.
Des Moines police have investigated eight pedestrians hit by cars this year, three of which were fatal.