Sheriff's Deputy Kills Biker With Car
by Steve
Friday, August 31, 2007
Yesterday, in Farmington, Minnesota, a Sheriff's deputy killed a motorcyclist with his squad car.
Both were travelling southbound on Highway 3. Dakota County Deputy Joshua J. Williams was in the right lane, when he decided to make a left turn on 200th street, and directly into the path of Bill J. Wallace, riding a 1999 model motorcycle (manufacturer unknown).
Deputy Williams was in the last phase of his field-training program, and was accompanied by his training officer. He was responding to a call at the time.
Read the full article on the Dakota County Tribune...
http://www.thisweek-online.com/.../31fmaccid9107.html
Labels: Minnesota Motorcycle Deaths, Police
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Anaheim Police Busting Loud Pipes
by Steve
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The City of Anaheim is getting tough on bikers by targeting those making loud noise and then busting them for modified exhaust.
This issue raised anger across the biker forums in Southern California because a lot of bikers pass through Anaheim, specifically down a stretch of road called "Imperial Highway", on their way to Cook's Corner, a popular biker hang out in Orange County.
This particular stretch of Impertial Highway lies between Yorba Linda Blvd on the north, to Nohl Ranch Rd on the south. This includes about 3-4 miles of straight road with no stop lights, running through a residential area, and which cars often reach 75mph, forcing everyone else to maintain a similiar speed.
And when bikes have to accelerate up to that speed, it always results in loud noise.
A friend of mine passed along a scanned image of a letter that's being handed out by Anaheim Police to all bikers they pull over....
To sum it up, it's addressed to "Dear Motorcyclist", and says that they're writing on behalf of residents complaining about loud motorcycles. Specifically it warns that if you're planning to ride through their town, you had better make sure you put your stock exhaust system back on.
NEVER MIND the fact that these residents knew they were living right next to a highway where cars race up and down at high speeds.
All of Southern California is experiencing sky rocketing population boom, and this particular place in Anaheim has a residential area with retail and industrial just a block away. This is one of the most heavily trafficked highways in Anaheim, and it's not because it's a great road, it's not. It's just the most convenient road to get from north county over to Cook's Corner.
Places like Anaheim have come to a point where its urban areas are so dense with population, retail, and industrial, that it's an oxymoron to say that residents there are entitled to quiet. It's like living underneath the flight path of a commercial airport, and complaining about the jetliners (Newport Beach are you reading this?)
Urban areas are SUPPOSED to be noisy, it comes with the territory.
If you want peace and quiet, move out to the sticks, like everyone else. Just because you've always lived there, doesn't mean you can have your way with everyone else. Anaheim has become so densely populated, and so developed with retail and industrial, that noise is a fact, not a problem.
Anaheim is already the 10th largest city in California, with 342,210 people (according to Wikipedia), and is the 56th largest city in entire USA. And I imagine with shoppers, workers, and passers-by, there's ten-times that many people in a single day. How do you tell a few million people within a 50 square mile area to "keep it quiet"?
You can't.
The residential area that runs along this small stretch of Imperial Highway is not that big, when you consider it's only those people whose homes back up to the highway. And not all of them are complaining. It's really just a handful of complainers. Yet for whatever reason, the Anaheim PD has really come to their aid.
Me thinks the Anaheim PD is not really concerned about enforcing peace, but are interested in busting more bikers. They recognized the high number of bikers travelling down this road, and found an easy way to dish out tons of tickets.
Labels: California Motorcycle Noise, Police
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CHP Targeting Speeders on Mulholland
by Steve
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Acorn, a newspaper serving the San Fernando Valley reports that the California Highway Patrol have launched a new operation called, "Operation Safe Canyons".
They've determined that the canyon roads around the greater Los Angeles area are particularly dangerous, so they're going after speeding vehicles...
The traffic safety program is an ongoing effort by the CHP and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lost Hills Station to make local canyon roads safer.
Read the full article...
http://www.theacorn.com/..../community/019.html
I tend to think that "vehicles" is not so much their focus but just motorcycles.
The article publishes photos of a CHP officer busting a guy on a sport bike, and then another one of a flatbed truck hauling his bike away.
If you're planning to hit The Rock Store, better watch out.
Labels: California Highway Patrol, Mulholland Road, Police, Speeding
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Cops Busting Loud Motorcycles
by Steve
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The latest topic of discussion within our riding club and some of the other riding clubs in our area, are cops taking greater focus on busting loud motorcycles.
Our club visits Old Town in Temecula, CA, because it's close to where most of us live, and we like to hang out at the bars and restaurants there. None of us have really loud pipes in our club, though we all have aftermarket exhaust systems. We're louder than stock pipes, but not LOUD loud.
The culprits are those bar hoppers, who like to show off their spotless clean Harleys (the ones that hardly ever get ridden), but are obnoxiously loud. The more attention they can muster, the more people who see what t-shirts and tattoos they're wearing. They stop at the stop sign, and then gun their engine really loud as they blast down the street for a whole 50 feet, until they come up to the car in front of them.
Last week, Temecula cops reportedly wrote 40 tickets for aftermarket exhaust. They're not citing bikers for loud motorcycles, they're just targeting them. But they bust them on something else. That something else is usually an old federal law (dating back to 1972), that requires the exhaust to carry a stamped identification number matching the same number stamped to the frame. This supposedly prevents someone from putting aftermarket pipes on their bikes. It's tougher to fight a citation on this law than being cited for loud pipes.
Our club had been holding its monthly meeting in Old Town Temecula, at The Bank of Mexican Food. We'd bring in about 20 people, and probably generate about $500 in receipts for that place each time. But we're not going to risk it anymore. We're taking our business elsewhere.
Labels: Loud Pipes, Police
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Denver Police Admits to Ticket Quotas
by Steve
Friday, May 04, 2007
CBS4Denver reports that the Denver Police Department admits to placing a minimum quota of writing 16 traffic citations within an 8 hour shift, or else officers must explain themselves...Captain Eric Rubin, commander of 79 officers in the Traffic Operations Bureau, contends it's "not a quota," but he calls it a "measure of performance" for officers whose primary duty is to enforce traffic laws. "It's a goal we are striving for," he said.
Measures of performance are in place everywhere at every job. But you can't help but wonder if there is another way to measure performance of traffic patrol officers. Officers should write tickets when they see drivers threatening the safety of others, not necessarily for going 5-10 mph above the speed limit, and not just to keep their resumé looking good.
Read the full article here...
http://cbs4denver.com/..../local_story_121234857.html
Labels: Denver Police Department, Police, Traffic Tickets
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North Carolina Troopers to Crack Down on Speeding Bikes
by Steve
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
According to the Rocky Mount Telegram, North Carolina Highway Patrol will be cracking down on "out-of-control motorcyclists"..."We're going to be paying closer attention to them, and we're going to be checking motorcycle endorsements," Stone said. "You can see what a dangerous situation this can be."
Read the full article here...
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/..../rider.html
This is coming as a result of two riders who lost control of their bikes and lost their lives, as well as another case where patrol officers gave chase to a biker who fled to speeds of 140mph (but survived).
Here we go again with another case of government claiming to be so concerned for our safety, that they have to give chase to us and apprehend us. If state and local governments could put so much effort into pursuing violent crimes as they do in pusuing traffic violations, we'd have an even safer country.
If someone wants to kill themselves on a bike, let them. If someone wants to molest a little girl, go get them!
Labels: North Carolina, Police
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Cops Issuing Kleenex Tissue to Bikers
by Steve
Saturday, March 10, 2007
An interesting story posted on Biker Think, from a biker in Japan who noticed cops pulling over bikers, and handing them packs of tissue paper...While I'm driving down this road, I see a few police cars ahead with red cones on the shoulder of the road.
They were pulling over ONLY bikers. This one old geiser cop (Had to be in his latter 50's or early 60's) came up to each biker and handed them something and then they drove off.
When he got to my bike, I looked at what he was handing out and it was a small packet of tissues with something printed on the back of the tissue pack.
It said... "Drive safely"... (* CHUCKLE *)
Could it be that the police were looking for a specific motorcycle, or motorcycle rider, and needed to get a close view, and offered free tissue paper for everyones trouble?
The read the whole forum thread here...
http://forums.delphiforums.com/bikerthink/messages?msg=4914.1
Labels: Japan, Police
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New Survey for Motorcycle Cops
by Steve
Friday, July 22, 2005
Motorcops.com is conducting a survey of motorcycle cops. The study seeks to obtain information on the following topics:
- Department Information
- Officer Overview
- Officer Duties
- Equipment Information
- Accidents
- Training Overview
The last time a comprehensive survey was done on motorcycle copes was in 1994 by Jim Polan, a Captain with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. "The safety survey I did provided some valuable information," Polan said. "As the department's motorcycle instructor, it was a great way to identify trends that were happening, and then share this information through my classes. The survey now on the Motorcops.com web site goes beyond what was done in the '90s," Polan added.
All motorcycle police departments are encouraged to take the survey. Results will be posted on Motorcops.com in August.
Labels: Police, Surveys
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