Long Beach Police take in motorcycle show

There will be many interested eyes looking at motorcycles this weekend in California as the LA Calendar Motorcycle Show take place in Long Beach.

But bikers heading to event should know that some of those interested parties aren’t just fellow motorcycle enthusiasts looking at the latest in two-wheeled designs, but the Long Beach Police Department.

A statement released yesterday stated that the Long Beach Police Department will be scrutinizing motorcycle safety and laws this weekend with an 8-hour operation paid for by state and federal grants.

Not only will the Long Beach Police Department’s Traffic Division patrol citywide and focus on collision-prone areas but they will also be checking for equipment and helmet violations as well as moving violations by riders and motorists.

While using the occasion of a motorcycle event to ‘scrutinize motorcycle safety’ may raise some eyebrows, if it takes the form of checkpoints, the Long Beach police could find themselves riding into a nationwide controversy.

New York and Georgia are among the states cited by lawmakers who are upset that government grants are being used to fund ‘motorcycle only’ checkpoints. The issue cumulated in a bill introduced by Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) prohibiting the DOT “from providing grants or any funds to a state, county, town, or township, Indian tribe, municipal or other local government to be used for any program to check helmet usage or create checkpoints for a motorcycle driver or passenger.”

After New York State operated ‘motorcycle only’ checkpoints using state funds last year, a lawsuit was considered in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York which questions their legal foundation.

The lawsuit notes the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly made it clear that any roadway checkpoint whose primary purpose is general crime control constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and is presumptively unconstitutional.

Motorcycle advocacy groups have joined with a bipartisan group of politicians in fighting the federally funded motorcycle only checkpoints.

Among the reasons given for the checkpoints, both by officials conducting them and the prescribed use of the federal funds is for motorcycle safety. However, when pressed on the matter, officials involved in some checkpoints have admitted the checkpoints focus on equipment violations and forged and stolen VINs, and don’t address any of the major causes of motorcycle accidents such as reckless driving, driver inattentiveness and alcohol impairment.

In its announcement, Long Beach Police stated ‘Studies cite speeding and impairment due to alcohol or drugs as a contributing factor in many motorcycle crashes as well as inexperience.’

The Long Beach Police will carry out the eight hour operation on Saturday between from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.