I have noticed lately that many motorcycles are carring small children as passengers on motorcycles and thought how careless this is. Small children don't have a chance, even with helmets, in a motorcyle accident. I have observed this on the freeways with motorcycles exceeding the speedlimits and a small child sitting behind the driver. The temptation is there because of the cost of gas, but the safety factor is not worth the risk, especially at high speed on the freeways. We should have laws preventing motorcycles or scooters carrying children as passengers, at any speed, on and off road. Adult passengers have a better ability to survive and adjust to road conditions, they can see around the driver, a child is riding blind secured by his own small hand grip and unable to see any of the surrounding traffic. Is saving a few dollars of gas worth your childs life? Riding a motorcycle thrills a child but the risk is too great. The parents in this incident have to carry all the blame and loss for allowing this behavior and accident.

Sad story but i WONDER if the driver had a motorcycle endorsement?

smaller kids on motorcycles is also a very cultural thing...anyone who has been to central/south america will tell you that seeing families of 4 and 5 riding on a scooter is not uncommon. It's sad...but not uncommon.

Find out who is running your city and next time don't vote for them.
Call on your city manager or your city council. Ours in Orem, Utah bend over back-wards to serve and care a great deal to help in anyways they can. I'm living prove. Twice in the last two years, asked for a four way stop sign near a school and they came through within a week and mentioned a stop and go light and they came through with flying colors. We love our city council
in Orem. Next time you vote know who you vote for. Sandi Boley from Orem.

Anonymous might want to visit the corner of 5th South and 9th West before making such a judgement. Do we really want all intersections to be four way stops?

I'm living in Mexico for a few years and I agree, it is very common to see people on scooters with small children, even babies, on their laps or behind them. The driving habits here are very different from the states. We are constantly shocked at the risks taken by Mexican locals, compared to the driving habits we're taught.
I hope better driving skills and more safety awareness can be encouraged in all our neighborhoods, especially to our friends from the south who have different driving patterns.

Scooters don't belong on high-traffic roads. They're difficult for other drivers to see. And if they get hit by anything other than another scooter, the rider will be seriously injured or killed.

There are too many stop signs now, so people do not respect them. As this experience is noted, the stop sign was ignored. Putting in another stop sign will not help. Respect for them is the help. As for scooters, motorcycles and ATV's there doesn't seem to be any respect for the laws concerning them and especially for unlawful passengers. In California they call them murder-cycles...In Utah the Doctors call them Donor-Cycles. What does that tell you?

I live in a small southern Utah town. I don't think you people in the city have nearly the problems I see on our streets. I see little kids driving little kids on in all kinds of vehicles on our streets. The cops here do not enforce Utah vehicle laws. There are all kinds of accidents waiting to happen.

I thought a under 18 operator could not have someone else on the scooter/bike who is also under 18, especially if the driver/operator is 16?

Sad day no matter what the law though for the family.

The grief on that mother's face should cause any human with compassion to mourn with her and not even think to judge her or anyone else.

I grew up near that intersection and while there is certainly more traffic than there was 40 yrs ago it has always been the same and should not change. 900 west is a very busy road and a stop sign for north and southbound traffic would create traffic jams. There is a stop light on 400 s which helps east - west traffic cross on 500 s. and like " check it out" says do we need a 4 way stop there. No way !! This tragedy was not a result of lack of way stop.

Scooters and motorcycles are lots of fun and use very little gas, but this is the flip side--you're out playing with the big boys and if ANYTHING bad happens, you're going to lose. So wear some gear and ride safe, OK?

To Anonymous: You are wrong. Anyone who would blame the city is wrong. The city may have been able to take action and didn't but that isn't the issue.

The lack of a stop sign did not kill anyone. People's actions killed someone. Those actions were restricted by one party in the form of at least one street DID have stop signs. This means that the accident was preventable but was simply just a human error which we can all easily make and that it was an ACCIDENT.

An intersection doesn't REQUIRE 4 stop signs... Just 2 or yields etc. This intersection may have been safer with 4 as parents requested. BUT if every driver was driving as they SHOULD be(which no one really does) then it wouldn't have happened.

It's an accident so quit trying to blame someone.

We live in a world where we have to have someone to put in the electric chair just because we need to see people fry. If you don't absolutely have a clear picture of who's fault it is, then NO ONE is to blame and I've already given enough reason not to blame the city. Vengeance is NOT progressive/productive.

Maybe some enterprising lawyer should think about suing the motorscooter company for its part in this tragedy. . . First of all, the lawyers need the money, and, second, the lawyers need the money, and, third, law school teaches lawyers how to blame the most unlikely plaintiff, and, fourth, the lawyers need the money!

Scooters get great gas mileage- at the expense of rider safety. To those that compare riding w/ kids to South America & Mexico- they're NOT competing with Excursions & Suburbans on streets w/ 50 mph speed limits. I'm afraid with $4.00/gal. gas, people will continue to make poor decisions at the expense of safety, to save a few bucks.

By the way, this is NOT Mexico. People need to LEARN to use the stop signs, and this would avoid many deaths. Nevertheless, I am sorry for the children and their families.

My heart goes out to the families of the boys, I'm sorry for your lose and hope the other boy will be ok. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

My sympathies to the involved families.

There are accidents involved in travel, no matter what the medium. All people should be more aware and respectful of traffic laws, including stop signs.

As owners of Motorcycles, we choose to allow our children to ride along with us, using extra caution, and the proper equipment, including full face helmets. This is still afforded to us as an American Freedom.

Gas prices will continue to rise, along with the sales and use of Motorcycles and Scooters, PLEASE Start Seeing these on the road. Pay extra attention! I do not see this as a temperary issue, but a trend toward economy in our consumer driven society. I commend those willing to give up the comfort of their car, to commute in a smarter way.

Is it worth it?
Sad about the kids
16 year old is not ready for heavy traffic on a scooter
These vehicles should be outlawed

Sandi Boley from Orem: Do all those wonderful stop signs and stop lights you have in wonderful Orem (emplaced by your loveable city council and city manager) do any good when they're ignored?

Why do we always have people who blame the government? Yet these people do nothing but sit behind the computers and point blame. I want less government not more! IF the boy failed to stop than a stop sign for the other direction probably wouldn't have helped.
I think people don't look for scooters or motorcycles. We also all drive too fast and too distracted. These are facts. Not my opinion. SLow down, pay attention. Wear helmets and follow the laws.

I am sad for the families involved. Very tragic.

I don't think it is the scooter to blame but human behaviors on the road. Stopping at the stop sign and then looking both ways to make sure traffic was clear would have saved them from a collision with a car.

There's a reason why kids shouldn't be driving around on streets on scooters. Too dangerous to mix in with cars, especially when driven by kids.

I just saw this after getting home from work today, and nearly killing someone on a scooter who DID NOT LOOK when turning right in front of my truck. 40 MPH FULL SIZE TRUCK vs SCOOTER = RIDER DEAD. Slamming on my breaks, swerving and laying on the horn, I still ended up next to the scooter.

These things are almost more dangerous than motorcycles because of the false sense of security teens and college students have when they get on one. They need to have a special license to drive them.

The type of scooter involved in this accident is classified under Utah law as a motorcycle and as such, a motorcycle license is required to operate it. Anyone under 18 on a scooter/motorcycle is required to wear a DOT approved helmet. It is an unfortunate accident, but hopefully it will draw attention to the facts of the law, which had they been heeded, may have prevented this tragedy.