Two-wheeled patrol takes to Missouri highways

People who are speeding on I-44 or any of the other roads in the state should not be surprised to find themselves pulled over by a “Hog.”

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is taking motorcycles to the highways of Missouri to enforce the laws of the state for the first time in many years.

Trooper Don Ivey and Cpl. Steve Donnell stopped at the patrol’s Carthage satellite office to show off their new Harley Davidson Electra Glide motorcycles they have started using to patrol the roads.

The bikes feature a shiny new “police officer blue” custom paint job, radios, radar, a plethora of emergency lights and other gear officers might need to handle emergencies on the road.

“We haven’t done a lot of enforcement with our motorcycles since the late 1970s or early 1980s,” Ivey said. “We re-implemented the program in the last two months.”

According to the patrol, motorcycles made up one-third of its original fleet of 61 vehicles when it was established in 1931. The patrol has used motorcycles for a variety of tasks throughout its history, but has not had a motorcycle since 1996 when the last 1979 Kawasaki was taken out of service and placed in the patrol museum.

In May of this year, the patrol reestablished the motorcycle in its fleet with seven bikes patrolling across the state in this pilot program. Ivey and Donnell will operate two of those bikes in southwest Missouri.

“The bike offers some big advantages as far as maneuverability, we can work construction zones and other tight areas where patrol cars might have a little bit more difficulty,” Ivey said. “Obviously the fuel mileage is a big advantage for right now especially with fuel prices the way they are right now.

“And I think it gives us a chance to get out and be a little bit more involved with the public too. There’s a big interest in the bikes, everybody’s been overwhelmingly positive and they want to hear about the bikes, they want to hear about us and it gives us an opening to talk about motorcycle safety issues and some other things we want to get across.”

Ivey said the public relations value of the motorcycles cannot be overstated.

“You don’t always get a chance to interact with the public on such a personal level,” he said. “But like I said, there’s a huge interest in the motorcycle program and it gives us a chance to get across those more important safety points as well.”

Ivey and Donnell said they went through a two week training course, sponsored by Harley Davidson and Northwestern University. The training was in Memphis and Ivey said it was thorough.

“With motorcycle safety, I won’t say they’re as safe as a car would be, but you can do a lot to improve the conditions as a rider,” Ivey said. “You can make yourself more visible, that’s a big thing, with the way you ride and your location within the lane. Being aware of your surroundings, that was another big part of the training was to learn to be aware of the things that are around you and to be constantly scanning for potential danger. I think that the more aware you are of the potential dangers, the safer you can be as a rider.”

Ivey and Donnell said while rising fuel costs were not the reason the program was started, they have become an unexpected bonus reason to continue the program. Donnell said he consistently gets 41 miles to the gallon in a combination of city and highway driving. The rest of the 1,200 vehicles in the patrol’s fleet get an average of 16 miles to the gallon.

“The colonel emphasized that this is still a pilot project and I think that once they get some time in it and some input from the officers on the bikes, they’ll look at everything before they decided whether to expand it,” Donnell said. “They’ll look at how safe they are, the mechanical reliability, the response, how beneficial is it for us. We answer to the taxpayers and we want to be responsible to them and to the state, especially with fuel prices the way they are.”