[bill]

An interesting post from LDRider on motorcycles and the US Presidental motorcades


http://tinyurl.com/wnsyk


Those guys had a bad day - four bikes down in less than 24 hours is pretty grim. Presidential motorcades tend to haul ass - no surprise that the White House pool reporter's story included the phrase "...racing through Hickam Air Force Base in the motorcade..."

A number of years ago Bill Clinton and Al Gore visited Lake Tahoe at the same time and we hosted the CHP motor cops who were escorting Gore's protective detail in our fire station for a day. Things were pretty uneventful - Al had gone hiking from Squaw Valley to Donner Summit, so there wasn't much for the motor units to do. About six in the evening the call came to mount up and the motorcade went roaring off to meet Al and Tipper at the trailhead. I ran into one of the motor officers later and asked how the escort duty had been. He said it had been fun for the most part, but that evening when they went to meet the Gores, they had encountered rain and hail on Donner Summit. The Secret Service guys in the Suburbans and vans kept hammering along at 90-100 on the freeway and the CHP motor units had to keep pace in their short sleeved shirts and half helmets, getting soaked with rain and then pelted with hail. None of them went down, but I got the distinct impression that it was pretty sketchy and that the CHP contingent was not amused.

The motor units escorting the motorcade don't get a lot of leeway to exercise judgment about riding conditions and appropriate speeds, they're just expected to keep up, no matter what. Obviously, it doesn't always work...

 

[VTwinVince]

Meh, these guys might generate some respect when they start wearing proper gear, like all other police forces except those in North America.

 

[Guest]

Meh, these guys might generate some respect when they start wearing proper gear, like all other police forces except those in North America.

I can't speak for other cities but Calgary police do wear proper riding gear. Full coverage open face helmets and ballistic nylon jackets with leather gauntlets and boots.

Your "North American" comment may have been a bit of an exageration.

 

[Janusz]

North America except Calgary.

Happy?

 

[Smoke]

I've ridden in Hawaii, the roads are very dusty from the sand.
I could see them blame slippery spot as there were lots.

 

[BlackScorpion]

That's gotta be a tough call for the folks in the cars. They would have to assume the worst-case scenario of an assault on the motorcade, and the possibility of the downed riders having been shot or otherwise attacked.

It's a cold thing to do, but they would probably be under orders to get the rest of the motorcade away from the scene as quickly as possible.

 

[bill]

Update on the crash from LDrider

I received this from a friend of mine who got it from a friend of his
who is an HPD motor officer:

"Unfortunately, it was a combination of factors. The bikes were
traveling at a high rate of speed, making a sweeping right hand turn
on a wet roadway. They all lost traction, struck the center medial
and were thrown from their bikes. The most critical injury was to an
officer who struck a light pole after being thrown. They did
amputate one of his legs to save his life (uncontrolled bleeding) and
he is still going in/out of various surgeries. The bikes were going
fast to try to get past the motorcade (34 vehicles) and take posts as
needed up ahead...

The second officer was treated/released at the hospital and the third
officer was treated/released at the scene."