Amish Man, 25, Killed on Bicycle at 3 AM — Allegedly Had No Lights, Riding in Middle of the Passing Lane

A young Amish man in the Seymour, Missouri community was tragically killed Sunday in a frankly head-scratching set of circumstances.

He was struck while riding his bicycle in the very early hours of the morning – reportedly without lights and traveling on a highway in the middle of the passing lane.

From the report at the Webster County Citizen:

A lot of things are jumping out about this story. First of all, 3:42 AM, early Sunday morning. Being Sunday, this is not someone going to their workplace (unless he was helping someone with milking?). And it’s way too early to be headed to church.

The man’s age, 25, is not exactly smack-dab running-around age, but it could be someone out quite late on a Saturday “night”.

The Seymour community, at least as far as appearances go, is one of the plainer ones. To be honest I wasn’t aware that they permitted bicycles – not having been there, but having an understanding from a distance, I would have assumed they didn’t.

That aside, he was reportedly riding without lighting, in the dark, on a highway, in the left lane. I’m very sorry he was killed. But it also needs saying that is not a recipe for a safe journey. What in the world was he doing out like that on the highway?

Would a proposed overpass have prevented this?

This isn’t the only Amish bicyclist killed on the road recently. We’ve previously covered the death of an Amish man in Indiana struck by a distracted driver, and the e-bike fatality in Holmes County, Ohio earlier this year.

Incidents involving Amish buggies tend to happen more often, and draw more attention, but bicycle fatalities are part of the same pattern.

A witness also told the Citizen that a cell phone was found at the scene carried by the victim. For a member of a plain Amish community, that detail may seem to stand out. But if this young man was not a church member, it may be more understandable. Cell phone use varies even within conservative communities.

The report ends with a comment from Police Chief Steven Pogue: “It’s another terrible tragedy on U.S. 60,” Pogue said. “That new overpass can’t come soon enough.”

This a comment on a possible overpass meant to improve buggy travel safety in the community. I take it to imply that this young man would likely not have been traveling on the highway, were the overpass available.

We looked at this proposed project, heavily supported by the local Amish community, earlier this year. The Amish want this project to happen so much that they’ve contributed their own funding to aiding the study and evaluation process.

Earlier this month, it was reported that funding for the overpass was included in the “first step” of the state’s 2027 fiscal year budget. It still needs to get through the Missouri State Senate, and then be approved by the governor, who has apparently indicated he won’t veto it.

Danny Y. Schwartz is one of the Amish community representatives who has taken the lead in promoting the project. He spoke at a meeting last month at Seymour City Hall on the importance of the project:

“In the other ($32.8 million) MoDOT plan, the crossing at Skyline Road (and North Division Street) is going to be eliminated, which pushes all of the traffic to the new intersection at (U.S.) 60 on the east edge of town,” Schwartz said.

“That just won’t be safe for our buggies. There will be accidents, lots of them. The ‘J-turn’ on the west end of town won’t help, either. The Amish will avoid that. But with this second overpass at the center of town, lives will be saved, no doubt about it.”

So it sounds like the overpass is moving in a positive direction, which, as Schwartz seems to strongly believe, is going to save lives of members of his community.

But for now, a young man from the Seymour community is gone, and questions remain about what he was doing out on that highway at 3:42 in the morning. R.I.P.

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