Following up on the memorial bike ride video we pointed out yesterday, Texas Highway Patrol tells Unfair Park that within the last five years, the number of stunt riders on our highways has definitely increased.
"In the last three, four, five years, the number of complaints have gone up," Texas Highway Patrol public information officer Lonny Haschel tells us. "We have noticed an uptick in it."
There are now a number of different groups riding throughout the metroplex, and many drivers are complaining about the safety hazard posed.
"We do what we can to get them to stop what they're doing," says Haschel, including public information campaigns. Of course if they are committing a traffic violation, they are issued a citation for that.
But the greatest challenge to enforcing the stunt riders is catching up with them. "It's hard to get a police car in there to catch up to that bike. They're just so fast," Haschel says.
It's also an additional hazard to have a police car chasing the bikes at such high speeds.
The best approach, says Haschel, is to get their license plate number and a good description of the bike, and go after them through the district attorney's office.
"We can build a case that way. It's a different angle as opposed to chasing them down on the streets."
