Safety starts with the motorcyclist
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Spring’s arrival allows us to break the clutches of winter with long walks, cookouts, baseball and other outdoor activities.
It also brings the roar of motorcycles, which was easily noticeable as soon as the mercury cracked 50. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for St. Joseph to experience its first motorcycle fatality of the season.
This tragedy, unfortunately, is as predictable as the arrival of longer days and spring flowers. St. Joseph recorded five motorcycle fatalities in 2023 and at least three last year. Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 133 motorcycle fatalities in 2024, which represented a 23% decrease from the previous year.
While that’s good news, motorcycle fatalities are still higher than in any year since 2020, when Missouri repealed the mandatory helmet law for riders of all ages. Before the repeal, Missouri averaged 120 deaths involving motorcycle riders every year.
This editorial makes no assumptions about the cause of this most recent motorcycle fatality. Taken as a whole, however, Missouri has lost 599 motorcycle riders since 2020. Too many of these deaths are preventable.
Let’s make two assumptions: The helmet law isn’t coming back and warm weather will bring more motorcyclists out in the next six months. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to accept the following realities heading into spring and summer:
-- Helmets do save lives. Just because you don’t have to wear one doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. It’s like wearing a life vest on a boat or eye protection while operating heavy equipment.
-- Other motorists do need to watch for motorcycles. The smaller profile makes motorcycles easier to miss, especially this time of year when other drivers aren’t as used to seeing them.
-- Too many motorcyclists ride recklessly. This is the other side of the coin that gets overlooked with all those signs saying, “Watch for motorcycles.” Yes, watch for them, but motorcycle riders need to watch their behavior. It’s not uncommon to see motorcycles racing and popping wheelies on the Belt Highway.
The third assumption might be that the police can’t be everywhere. So unless the public wants to revisit opposition to red light and speeding cameras, it’s time to recognize that the best way to avoid motorcycle fatalities is through more awareness and more personal responsibility.
And it starts with the motorcycle operators.
Food is a high-tech industry
St. Joseph’s newest manufacturer won’t be making vehicles, microchips or pharmaceuticals.
That doesn’t mean Nortian Foodtech is any less of a high-tech company. This start-up business will invest more than $22.2 million in a facility on Alabama Street that produces food-grade protein from meat byproducts.
In its way, Nortian’s business model resembles LifeLine Foods – a St. Joseph company that extracts as much value as possible from each kernel of corn. Companies that reduce food waste are expected to fuel 9.3% growth for the overall food tech industry.
St. Joseph capitalized on this trend through the efforts of the city, county, the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. The local population should not overlook the significance of St. Joseph’s growing reputation in food production and research.
