Two 13-year-old boys were in critical condition following a Labor Day crash between an e-moto and a truck in a Bloomfield Township crosswalk.
Police were called just before noon Monday, Sept. 7 to the crash on South Telegraph Road at West Hickory Grove Road in Bloomfield Township, said Bloomfield Township Police Lt. Nick Soley.
The incident is under investigation, but police believe the two boys from Bloomfield Township were on a single electric motorcycle together and going west on a sidewalk along Hickory Grove.
The two then entered a crosswalk stretched across southbound Telegraph and, while there, were struck by a southbound Ford F-250 truck driven by a 35-year-old Rochester Hills man, Soley said.
Preliminary investigation has so far indicated
that the truck driver had a green light at the time, Soley said.
The two boys were taken to local hospitals, Trinity Health Oakland Hospital and Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, in critical condition, Soley said.
“Our thoughts are with them that they recover from this,” Soley said.
Within the last week before the crash, the police department put out social media post highlighting the difference between e-bikes and electric motorcycles.
Not everything that looks like a bicycle is legally a bicycle, according to the post. Some, in fact, meet the legal definition for a motorcycle and therefore require riders to have a license, registration and insurance.
In addition, these electric motorcycles don’t have pedals and can’t be ridden on a sidewalk, Soley clarified.
Parents need to be wary, Soley said.
“Driving one of these is not much different than driving a car,” Soley said.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2 boys critical after e-moto, truck crash in Bloomfield crosswalk
