Unregistered 9/11 bikers could face toll road fines

OFF THE WIRE
Thousands of bikers who participated in the annual Remember 911 motorcycle ride failed to register and could face toll road fines, according to the ride's organizer.

Gary Biggerstaff, a Long Beach fire engineer who founded the event, this year required bikers to register and pay to participate in the ride that sent bikes rumbling from Cook's Corner through Orange County to Long Beach. Bikers were charged $30 and passengers $15, with proceeds going to nonprofit groups such as the Wounded Warrior Project, George S. Howard Scholarship and the Long Beach Firefighter's Museum. Biggerstaff said he made the change to legitimize the ride and to pay for permits and insurance.

About 500 riders preregistered online, he said, but thousands turned out Sunday. It's unclear how many bikers registered on site. California Highway Patrol officer John Patterson estimated 3,000-plus bikers were escorted down Santiago Canyon, onto the 241 toll road and down the 133 toward Laguna Beach by CHP officers.

Biggerstaff said bikers who did not sign up or who had no toll road transponders could receive $57 fines from the Transportation Corridor Agencies. He had an agreement with the TCA - which manages the toll roads - that registered riders wouldn't have to stop and pay tolls. Instead, their tolls would be paid out of their registration fees.

License plate numbers were collected during the registration process, and Biggerstaff has submitted a list of nearly 900 plate numbers to the TCA. Those whose license plates are not submitted will receive fines unless those plates are already tied to a FasTrak account, TCA spokeswoman Lisa Telles said.



Biggerstaff opened post-registration on his site remember911ride.com so bikers may register and avoid the fine. Telles said Biggerstaff has until 5 p.m. Friday to provide additional license plate numbers to the TCA.

Biggerstaff has been memorializing the Sept. 11 attacks since 2002, first with 343 crosses in his yard, each with a fallen firefighter's name on it, and then with the motorcycle ride and ceremony that follows.

This year the ride did not follow its traditional route to the coast, from Cook's down El Toro Road to Main Beach in Laguna Beach. Biggerstaff said he changed that part of the route - instead taking the 241 toll road to the 133 - to avoid traffic lights along El Toro.

It was Ron DuRocher's first time on the ride. Confusion about the route led to some disorganization at Cook's, but the ride was nonetheless special, he said.

"It was a very humbling experience," said DuRocher, a contractor from Capistrano Beach. "The fire department and police support was fantastic. At the Long Beach destination, seeing the first responders and touching the trade tower steel beam was overwhelming."

Laguna Beach police closed North Coast Highway at Main Beach for more than 40 minutes to let the motorcyclists turn north without having to stop for the light. Next year, Biggerstaff hopes to get a CHP escort all along Pacific Coast Highway to Long Beach. "When we came down the canyon there was not one car in front of us," he said. "(Laguna Beach Police) pulled it off fantastically."

The ride ended at McKenna's on the Bay at Alamitos Bay Landing. Firefighters from the Long Beach Fire Department dedicated a piece of the World Trade Center in a ceremony that drew more than 4,500 people.

The event - sponsored this year by ACCORD Community First, a nonprofit group that supports youth, military and the unemployed in Southern California - continues to grow.

"Everyone is still impacted," Biggerstaff said. "I think they feel at a loss of what to do, but they still have a huge amount of energy to pay tribute to the fallen. I just give them a place to come."

http://www.fireengineering.com/news/2011/09/1501166564/unregistered-9-11-bikers-could-face-toll-road-fines.html