OFF THE WIRE
Motorcycle clubs' use of road guards may be endangering lives.
Because of its size alone, the Big Texas Toy Run can be "an inconvenience one day a year" for motorists, Nick Taddonio says.
On. Sunday, thousands of motorcyclists will leave Fort Worth and Dallas and head toward QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie as part of the annual charitable event, which benefits needy children in the Metroplex.
To limit the inconvenience, on- and off-duty police officers will help direct traffic as the bikers travel along Interstate 30.
"There are many, many police officers involved," said Taddonio, president of the charity's board. "We say on our flier it's police-escorted and it's not just at the front end of the line."
But not all motorcycle rides are as big, or as organized, as the toy run.
When motorcycle clubs set out on rides -- occasionally for charity, often just for fun -- they sometimes use their own bikers, or "road guards," to direct and block traffic, a common but illegal practice that is being blamed for the death of a man in October in Granbury.
Rafael Del Val, 38, was in a convoy of some 85 motorcyclists headed to Cranfills Gap when he was fatally injured.
According to a Granbury police report, members of the motorcycle convoy were trying to stop cross-traffic at U.S. 377 and Temple Hall Highway so the group of riders could stay together. Del Val and a second biker collided with an SUV while entering the intersection against a red light.
Although a Granbury police spokesman said the case will go to the Hood County district attorney's office for presentation to a grand jury, the accident report lists Del Val's disregard of the red light as the sole contributor to the crash.
The crash has focused attention on the use of road guards to block cross-traffic, regardless of traffic signals, until all riders can pass.
"This is a very common practice for the hordes of bikes that ride around the small towns of North Central Texas -- it happens a lot," a person wrote in a letter to the Star-Telegram. "Really friendly way to drive. Motorcyclists want cars to be bike friendly, but apparently that is a one-way street."
Interpretation of law
Some motorcyclists argue, however, that the law is ambiguous and that the use of volunteer road guards is a safety measure to keep motorcyclists and other drivers safe.
"It's a gray area," said Jeff Wilson, president of the Cowboys from Hell riding club, to which Del Val belonged. "It's always been one of those things that you just don't know what they're expecting of us. When the laws were written, it was for a single bike or a single car. ... But the laws aren't written for 80-something bikes riding at the same time. There's no clause for that."
According to a Department of Public Safety official's interpretation of the Texas transportation code, only law enforcement officers are allowed to block traffic unless an emergency occurs, such as a wreck.
While Fort Worth and several other cities have ordinances giving funeral escort companies limited authority to stop traffic, such rights do not extend to motorcycle convoys, officials said.
"If someone calls and says we're the DFW rider group and we want to take 200 motorcycles through your city, if you want to go through intersections, you're going to have to hire off-duty officers that assist you because we're the only ones that can stop the traffic," said Sgt. Ann Gates, a supervisor in the Fort Worth Police Department's motorcycle unit. "Otherwise you're going to have to obey all the traffic lights and signs. You're not going to be able to expect to blow through there as a group and expect everyone to just stop."
Defining 'escort'
Though not funeral escorts, the Patriot Guard Riders often participate in processions as part of their mission to attend, by invitation, the funerals of American service members to show respect and help shield mourners from interruptions caused by protesters.
George Winslow Jr., national president of the Patriot Guard Riders, said that if the group's members are part of a funeral procession that is not being escorted by law enforcement officers, "our practice is to follow all applicable traffic laws."
He said providing road guards is outside the group's normal practice "unless requested by law enforcement during a particular mission."
"In many states 'escort' has a specific legal definition, sometimes requiring special licensing and equipment," Winslow said. "Normally we do not provide 'escort' services. However, we often participate in a procession, which is being escorted by law enforcement officers, which I understand leads many of the public to believe that we are the escorts."
But Wilson said hiring officers for informal rides like the one in which Del Val was killed is not feasible.
"It's not a sponsored ride or anything like that," Wilson said. "Nobody raised money. It's not a sanctioned ride. It's like, 'Let's meet up somewhere Sunday and go for a ride.'"
Wilson said he believes that keeping the riders together is necessary for safety reasons and that road guards are a tool to help warn other motorists.
"I would think if you get a large group of 85 bikes coming through, you keep them together, you get them through and they're out," Wilson said. "To me it's a safety issue -- to keep the bikes together so everyone can watch over everybody."
'It's reckless'
Kat Fay, the driver of the Kia Soul involved in the collision, disagrees.
She said such groups assume that other motorists understand the purpose of a person acting as a road guard.
"I had no idea what was going on," Fay said. "I had never experienced it before or even heard of it."
Fay said she found it unusual when she pulled up to the red light and spotted a motorcycle stopped in front of the car to her right, but had no idea that the motorcyclists were trying to stop all cross-traffic or that a large group of motorcycles was even headed her way when her light turned green and she proceeded forward.
"The woman on the back of the bike started waving her arms and yelling and pointing to my left," Fay said. "I looked left and there were motorcycles basically hitting my car at that point."
Fay said the Granbury investigator who worked the case mentioned to her that if the group had simply requested the Police Department's help, officers would have escorted the bikers through town.
"They can't take it into their own hands," Fay said. "I think it's reckless. I think that they're putting their lives at risk. They're putting other people's lives at risk."
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/16/3601145/motorcycle-clubs-use-of-road-guards.html
