Motorcycle Rallies and Events

Moline rejects escort for motorcycle parade

April 11th, 2007

For 22 years, the Bi-State Motorcycle Awareness Council has held a motorcycle awareness parade that travels between Iowa and Illinois. For 22 years, the cities that were visited treated the event as a parade, closing the route and escorting the motorcycles through town. This year will be different. While the remaining cities on the parade route have already voted to continue with the non-stop parade format, the aldermen and mayor of Moline have voted to decline the police services requested. The motorcycle riders will be required to obey all traffic signs on their route through Moline.

Apparently, this decision, a close one that had to have the Mayor do the tie breaker, is based on the recommendations of the police chief:

Police Chief Gary Francque suggested Moline change how it handles the motorcycle ride this year because of concerns about traffic and public safety. At observation points along the ride last year, police officers noticed the number of riders has increased and the delay at closed intersections is “becoming extensive,” Chief Francque said.

“Extensive” is later clarified to be “20 to 40 minutes”. The good citizens of Moline were getting too impatient to wait, according to the police chief.

The purpose of the parade, according to the Bi-State Motorcycle Awareness Council, is to “join together the states of Iowa and Illinois in promoting motorcycle awareness among motorists”. From their website:

Proclamations are received from Governors, Senators and Mayors of the bi-state area, proclaiming May as Motorcycle Awareness Month. By doing this, the Council is able to attract media attention that reminds the public that another riding season has started and that they should be alert to the presence of motorcycles on the streets and highways. These proclamations are presented at the annual Motorcycle Awareness Proclamation Ride, which is held every year on the first Saturday in May.

The comments to the article referenced are split almost exactly in half, for and against the decision of Moline. Unfortunately, those who are agreeing with the decision are typically doing it in a stereotypical way. Reading through the pro comments, I see references to “jelly bellied, middle aged easy rider wannabes”, “hoard of loud motorcycles”, and comments like “If you don’t like it motorcyclists….then do your dumb parade somewhere else”, and “Grow up and drive on four wheels like the rest of us!”. The posts against the decision seem a bit more tame, and at least don’t resort to stereotyping cagers, they again point out the reasons for the parade and why it is a bad decision not to provide the parade style routing…rightly, in my opinion, stating that the delay will expand dramatically if the parade has to be broken up and staggered due to traffic lights.

The delay caused in Moline will not just be in Moline, though. Since Moline will successfully break the parade into several smaller groups, the time to traverse the remainder of the route will also be increased. Fortunately, this will only affect the ending point in East Moline.

As some of the comments pointed out, this event is well publicized, and should take none of the residents by surprise, while other parades that result in the same delay are not publicized nearly as well. It was also equated to waiting for a train that has stopped at a railroad crossing, again with no warning.

The decision made by the elected body of Moline is unfortunate to say the least. It heightens the belief that bikers are just second class citizens, not worthy of the cities help in promoting a good cause. This decision will most likely result in unnecessary “accidents” causing needless injury in an effort to promote awareness and avoid that injury. I hope the decision does not come back to bite the aldermen and mayor, but it most likely will.

One final note on this. The Bi-State Motorcycle Awareness Council also uses this event to raise money for the Childrens Therapy Center of the Quad Cities, through donations and sales of commemorative items to the participants. So this is not “all about the motorcyclists”, but for the entire community. Surely the community should take this into account, rather than continuing to stereotyp the bikers who give.

Entry Filed under: Motorcycle Rallies, Motorcycle Safety