Motorcycle Racing on TMR

Week before last I attended a gathering where I had the opportunity to speak with Sheriff Duncan. I asked him to please do everything he could do to eliminate the motorcycle racing on TMR. He was very cordial and very understanding and fully realizes that someone could get killed. I reminded him of the serious motorcycle racing accidents that have occurred over the past two years and the close calls that residents have had with such dangerous driving.

He said some residents on Leicester Highway are having the same problem and that he and his staff pretty much know who the crazy riders are. His department is coordinating closely with the Asheville City Police and plan to keep pressure on these riders. He did say, however, to not count much on the Highway Patrol as they are not staffed sufficiently to manage a short, secondary road even though it's a State highway.

It was quite obvious that his department is most receptive to citizen documentation and calls to report motorcyle racing. To me, the challenge for us who live along this road is how to determine if the the high performance motocycles are acutally racing when you can't see them. They inherently make a lot of noise, especially when driving in a low, high RPM gear. Unless one visually witnesses these riders in action, it's sometimes hard to make the determination. We don't want to make false reports when there has been no traffic violation. Unfortunately, the noise is not against the law. Nevertheless, I believe we need to be ever vigilent to prevent a recurrence and a terrible accident.