A motorcycle vs vehicle accident south of Salina sends a Solomon man to the hospital.

Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan tells KSAL News that 47-year-old William Closs, Solomon, was transported by EMS to Salina Regional Health Center on Saturday morning after his motorcycle was sideswiped by a vehicle.

The accident happened on Old Highway 81, just south of the intersection with Hedberg Rd. in far southern Saline County at 10:39 a.m. Saturday.

A 2016 Dodge Caravan, driven by 69-year-old Irene Nelson, Bridgeport; was traveling northbound on the roadway. The van was too close to the edge of the road when part of its tires fell off of the pavement. The woman jerked the vehicle to get back on to the roadway, however, went too far in to the oncoming lane of traffic.

Closs saw what was happening as he approached from the opposite direction. He swerved to try to avoid the van, when Nelson was able to swerve part of her van back to her lane, but the back end sideswiped Closs’ motorcycle, causing him to crash.

Closs suffered injuries to his ankle, left hand and had abrasions to his left side when he was hospitalized. His motorcycle has damage to the left side as well.

Nelson was not injured in the crash. Her van has damage to left rear corner in the collision with the bike.

Saline County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating.