UHP stop raises ire of MMP officials

OFF THE WIRE
UTAH:
http://www.tooeletranscript.com/view/full_story/7792722/article-UHP-stop-raises-ire-of-MMP-officials?instance=home_news_1st_right UHP stop raises ire of MMP officials by Sarah Miley Jun 03, 2010 | 246 views | 0 | 5 | | A Utah Highway Patrol motorcycle safety checkpoint on SR-36 at Canyon Road caused traffic delays and frustration for officials at Miller Motorsports Park and bikers after the World Superbike races at MMP on Sunday.

The checkpoint began at 4 p.m. and was supposed to have ended at 9 p.m., according to UHP spokesman Cameron Roden. Seven officers stopped motorcycles and talked to drivers about the importance of proper registration, insurance and motorcycle endorsement, as well as safety issues. Documents were checked. Roden said the intent of the checkpoint was educational rather than to issue citations. Lt. Troy Marx of the UHP said there were a few citations issued and no sobriety tests were conducted.

“Shortly after they started the checkpoint, evidently the Miller Motorsports Park had let out and traffic started coming down the roadway,” Roden said. “Once they observed it was starting to be a traffic jam, they actually pulled their checkpoint they had been running for about an hour. They were going to wait for the traffic to go by, but traffic increased so they transitioned from the checkpoint and went to Miller Motorsports Park to direct traffic and help people moving through.”

John Gardner, MMP media manager, said he was made aware of the checkpoint when Alan Wilson, the track’s designer and former manager who was on his way home from the event, called and described what was happening.

“It created a huge backup and a major inconvenience for our patrons,” Gardner said. “We worked so hard to get people to come here and to have that happen is not good.”

Gardner said Bryan Miller, assistant general manager at MMP, contacted an official with the Utah Department of Public Safety just after hearing of the checkpoint.

“This guy went out and saw the situation and had them shut it down a couple hours earlier,” Gardner said. “It was a good idea, it was just badly executed. We dealt with it as well as we could as soon as we knew about it. It’s just bad PR for us. We work so hard for people to come here. People come here from all over the country to see this race and to see that happen was disappointing. We understand, it was just bad timing, bad execution.”

Roden said UHP received a federal grant to conduct the checkpoint to increase awareness of motorcycle safety.

“In the state of Utah the last couple years, we’ve seen the number of fatalities start to go down and the only area really we’ve seen it increasing is motorcycle fatalities, so our goal the last little while, especially coming into summer, is just to increase people’s awareness of motorcycle safety,” Roden said.