CHP officers to target speeding motorcycles on Palomar Mountain
Authorities plan to use copter, airplane
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 11, 2005
Decked out in their multicolored leather outfits and racing helmets, motorcyclists race down the south side of Palomar Mountain nearly every weekend, and often on weekdays.
Soon, however, they may drive straight into the arms of the law.
A force of officers may be awaiting.
The bikers race against the clock, down the mountain along South Grade Road, negotiating five miles of hairpin turns.
But they also crash – 61 times in the past two years, and authorities think far more incidents than that go unreported.
Many residents of Palomar Mountain fear running into a speeding motorcycle.
"They're always solo accidents that are the fault of the motorcycle riders," California Highway Patrol Sgt. George Griffith said.
At a press conference held atop the mountain yesterday the CHP announced plans to conduct numerous "strike force operations" on the mountain between now and next March aimed at reducing racing and the accidents that inevitably follow.
In the unannounced operations on weekends, CHP officers and others will be dispatched to the mountain, including a helicopter and a CHP plane that will track cyclists who try to outrun officers.
Griffith said there have been two such operations this year, but they were conducted mostly as tests to see how further ones should be organized.
"We've decided we won't chase any of those that run," Griffith said. "We'll let the eyes in the sky watch them for us."
Using grant money from the state, 12 one-day operations are planned in the North County, with the majority of them concentrated on Palomar Mountain.
The money totals only about $42,000, which will pay for officer overtime costs. The CHP is partnering with several other North County agencies including the Sheriff's Department and police departments from Escondido, Oceanside and Carlsbad. Part of that partnership means about half of the operations will target other types of street racing in North County along such places as Old Highway 395 near the Lawrence Welk Resort, Valley Center Road, state Route 76, and interstates 5 and 15.
The county's Department of Public Works plans to place four signs on South Grade and East Grade roads that will depict a motorcyclist with the words: "Safe Riding Saves Lives."
County Traffic Engineer Hank Morris also said new, more frequent mileage marker signs will be put on both roads every fifth of a mile so that anyone who sees a crash can more precisely tell emergency dispatchers where the injured biker can be found. The mileage markers are now posted every half mile.
Part of the grant money will be used to discourage "sideshows," which are unauthorized gatherings of car or motorcycle enthusiasts. While such gatherings are legal, authorities say they are often accompanied by illegal behavior such as public drinking, drugs, fights and racing.
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