The City of Tigard, Oregon bought a new motorcycle for one of its policemen, Rod Morse. It's a Honda ST1300, a sport touring model.

A reporter for The Oregonian newspaper reported that folks are totally unaware that it's a police motorcycle, and as a result continue on speeding and running red lights.

Commuters speed, run red lights and drive recklessly in front of Morse more often now than when he rode the Kawasaki, he said. One driver trying to figure out whether the Honda was a police motorcycle was so focused on his rearview mirror that he drove through a stop sign. The resulting ticket became proof that, yes, an officer was riding that sleek bike.

It sounds like the city can save a lot more money buying cheaper sport touring models, and actually generate more city revenue by fooling people into breaking laws.

Where I live, many of the police bikes are already of the sport-touring models, I'm not sure which make (Kawasaki Concours?). There are still some officers riding police edition Harleys, however.

Labels: Honda ST1300, Police Motorcycles