Death rate skyrockets on the Dragon after 'speed limit' reduced by 35 mph
See Fake Propaganda Death Map by THP and Knoxville News Sentinel's bankrupt Maryville Daily Times versus Truth Map by TailOfTheDragon.com: THP claims 3 deaths in 2009 but there were actually 5 deaths. THP claims zero deaths in 2010, but there was actually 1 death with the road closed by martial law for 6 months.
Daily Times forget to mention the rider literally run over by a tractor trailer in 2011, since big rigs block both lanes in every curve with immunity from prosecution (no ticket for the biker-killin trucker). North Carolina has already banned large trucks from US129, thus denying access to the Dragon, a law this trucker violated in order to murder Ike Woodard. Yet cops refused to ticket this trucker for his homicide at Deals Gap.
In fact, Blount County renamed Interstate 140 (Pellissippi Parkway) to honor the convicted hit-and-run killer of a sportbike tourist.
The actual cause of biker deaths is the 4-hour to 24-hour rescue time by Rural Metro and THP on the Dragon (as if any cop ever performs first aid or has first responder equipment and certification).
‘The dragstrip' to the Dragon now a concern
By Joel Davis | (joeld@thedailytimes.com)
“The Dragon” might be a cruel and unforgiving stretch of road, but it doesn’t stop thousands of motorists from being drawn to its seductive challenges each year.
An 11.1-mile segment of U.S. 129 from Tabcat Creek to the North Carolina Line at Deals Gap, The Dragon draws motorcyclists from across the nation and from around the world to pit themselves against its world-famous 318 curves. Many rise to the occasion — discovering the exhilaration of conquering the legendary road. Sometimes, though, they fail. There has been an average of 2.4 motorcycle fatalities per year for the past six years on the stretch.
Harold “Monk” Hood, 71, is a veteran motorcyclist. He’s traveled The Dragon at least 100 times in the past six years but admits it’s not his favorite ride. He prefers the nearby Cherohala Skyway in North Carolina, which is more suited to touring on his 2010 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic. “I don’t like to be crowded,” he said.
And The Dragon is crowded.
Thousands of vehicles travel the route during busy season, which sometimes leads to sticky situations as riders of very different temperaments encounter each other, Hood said. “All of a sudden, you’ve got two crotch-rockets coming around you in the middle of a switchback curve. ... It’s scary.”
Daily Times photographer Tom Sherlin, a motorcyclist himself, had five separate encounters with sports bikes while filming a first-person account of riding The Dragon, which can be seen on (http://TheDailyTimes.com) “The first time it was just surprising because he appeared out of nowhere —all of a sudden he’s going past on the left, and then you see him fly away,” Sherlin said.
Still, there is a place for everyone on The Dragon, whatever bike they ride, Hood said. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t be there. It’s a federal highway so everybody has got the right to be on it. It’s overcrowded, but everybody has a right to ride their own bikes. If they’d stay within the speed limit, nobody would have a problem.”
Unfortunately, it is the riders unfamiliar with the curvy roads who most often prove to be a danger to themselves, Hood said. “Most of the ones who wreck are out-of-staters. I hate to see that. They come out to enjoy themselves and leave in a bag.”
Speeding common
With thousands of travelers crossing the mountain on U.S. 129 each year, the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies stay busy. THP alone wrote 2,365 citations to motorists traveling U.S. 129/SR115 in Blount County in 2009 and 2010. Speeding was the most common violation on the roadway, especially regarding motorcycles.
In 2009, 227 out of 388 motorcyclists cited were ticketed for speeding violations. These citations increased in 2010, with 383 out of 666 motorcyclists cited for speeding. In 2009, only 228 speeding citations were issued out of 690 total to non-motorcyclists. In 2010, there were 272 non-motorcyclists cited for speeding out of 621 total citations.
Improper passing was the second most common violation for motorcyclists.
The Daily Times received the citation statistics through an Open Records request made to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Marian O’Briant said an annual grant from the state allows deputies to increase enforcement on the Dragon. “It is an overtime grant exclusive for the Dragon. We use it May through the end of September for direct patrols two or three days a week. Without those grants, we couldn’t do that.”
From 2008-2011, the Sheriff’s Office received $366,706 from the state to pay for overtime incurred during the Dragon patrols.
‘The Dragstrip ...’
The path to The Dragon has its own perils.
Local resident and farmer Dan Ashby believes Calderwood Highway, which leads to The Dragon, has become a danger in its own right. He calls the 10-mile segment of U.S. 129 that stretches from U.S. Highway 411 to the Calderwood Dam “the dragstrip to The Dragon.” He said there is danger every day.
“It’s utter chaos,” he said. “These idiots come flying up through here in speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. ... It’s anarchy out here at night.”
Ashby said he’s been trying get public officials to take steps to improve safety on the road for several years now, but feels that little has been done, He has written more than a dozen letters to officials during the past three years, but feels nothing will be done about the road until “someone powerful, rich or politically important gets hurt on this road.”
Governor’s Highway Safety Office Director Kendell Poole said he respects Ashby’s statements, but explained that efforts have been made in order to curb these problems. “Over half a million dollars in overtime has been sunk into patrols on The Dragon and the areas surrounding The Dragon,” he said.
‘Dangerous task’
Although Ashby gives credit to Blount County Sheriff James Berrong and the THP’s efforts to tame The Dragon, he doesn’t believe local law enforcement has sufficient resources.
“I feel sorry for the deputies putting their lives on the line when they are restricted in what they can do up here,” Ashby said. “Only Sheriff Berrong has made an effort, but it is fairly nonexistent on weekends due to manpower. The deputies and troopers are to be commended for a thankless and dangerous task of enforcing laws of Tennessee without any manpower support and real involvement from Nashville.”
While in his frustration Ashby cites a lack of involvement from Nashville, there has been some funding provided by the state.
O’Briant said the Sheriff’s Office especially concentrates its efforts during peak cruising season and uses state grant money to help finance those patrols. “Between the months of May and the end of September, with the gracious assistance of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office overtime grant money, we are able to send extra enforcement to The Dragon five days a week — Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then two other days during the week. There are usually two Sheriff’s Office cruisers up there on those days. We concentrate on areas of The Dragon where there are the most problems and the most accidents.”
Slow it down
Living just past Hatcher’s store, Ashby said he also believes that the intersection right before his house at Six Mile Road creates part of the problems and is a huge danger by itself. “It’s got to be one of the most dangerous intersections in the state.”
Ashby, a motorcycle rider himself, said he is not opposed to riders, sightseers or tourists in the area and that all he is asking is for the Tennessee Department of Transportation to slow the speed limit down a “little bit.”
The posted speed limit for the stretch of highway that runs parallel to his property is 50 mph. Ashby said he feels even decreasing it to 45 mph could help the situation and prevent accidents.
“The fact that this road has a 50 mile-per-hour (limit) on it is especially ludicrous when compared to TN 411 in Madisonville, Englewood and Etowah that limit the speed to 45 mph on a five-lane road with very little residential or business activity,” he said.
See also: Dragon’s toll: 17 in 6 years (Ike Woodard rolls in his grave because of the Police State)
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The speed limit on the Dragon is 65 mph, according to TDOT, TN Code 55-8-152 & 153 , Blount County Attorney General, Blount County Courts, TN Court of Appeals and TN Supreme Court in CITY OF OAK RIDGE v. DIANA RUTH BROWN. Lowering the speed limit has quadrupled the death rate on the Dragon, which is why it is illegal to post a limit of 30 mph without a TDOT performing a mandatory traffic engineering survey speed audit .
"Dear Mr. Lee: Please find enclosed the Road Safety Audit Review of U. S. 129 from North Carolina State Line to Tabcat Bridge in Blount County, dated July 25, 2007. We have no record of a Traffic Engineering Survey and/or Speed Audit for this location."
-Marion E. Hilt, Staff Attorney, TDOT, Tennessee Open Records Act Request, February 23, 2011
A $6-million class action lawsuit was filed in Knoxville this week, against Bluff City for suing speeding tickets without an engineering speed audit.
Every cop on the Dragon is guilty of felony official oppression, conspiracy and racketeering, according to TN Code. Is USA really land of the coward and home of the slave? Cops on the Dragon are paid $100,000/yr salaries according to THP and BCSO public records.
COP.
2. to steal; filch. 3. to buy (narcotics). 4. cop out, a. to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out. 5. cop a plea, a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence. b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge; plea-bargain."
-Random House Unabridged Dictionary
“I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong, United Stated Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005See More
Biker Tickets Increase 11,400% on the Dragon, brags THP
THP bans all commercial businesses in Blount County on the Dragon, says TDOT Report.
"The median pre-crash speed was 29.8 mph, and the median crash speed was 21.5 mph, and the one-in-a-thousand crash speed is approximately 86 mph. Motorcycle riders in these accidents showed significant collision avoidance problems. Most riders would overbrake and skid the rear wheel, and underbrake the front wheel greatly reducing collision avoidance deceleration. The ability to countersteer and swerve was essentially absent."
-Dr Harry Hurt PhD, Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, USDOT
Countersteering is the only way to steer a motorcycle, and requires steering in the opposite direction to a curve. THP censors countersteering from it's Motorcycle Operator Test and Study Guide, thus intentionally causing 95% of all motorcycle crashes.
The main cause of motorcycle deaths on the Dragon is the 4.5-hour response time by Rural Metro. Knox County has a 10-minute response time required by contract, or Rural Metro has to pay a penalty out of its billion-dollar profit.
Your odds of dying in a motorcycle crash are about the same as stangulation by inhalation, or by fire.
You're THREE times more likely to die by gunfire than in a motorcycle crash.
You're FOUR times more likely to die by FALLING DOWN or by poisoning than in a motorcycle crash.
You're TEN times more likely to die by suicide than in a motorcycle crash. (Does riding a bike protect you from suicide?)
You're EIGHTEEN times more likely to die from the FLU than in a motorcycle crash.
You're TWENTY-SEVEN times more likely to die playing ordinary sports than in a motorcycle crash. 200,000 stick-and-ball athletes die every year in USA, according to CDC.
500,000 Americans are killed every year by tobacco.
Medical doctors are the leading cause of death in USA, with virtual immunity from prosecution. For every 1 driver killed in a car or motorcycle crash, doctors murder 250. The most dangerous part of a motor vehicle crash is the medical treatment.
"The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251.5) Using Leape's 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million multiplied by the 14% fatality rate he used in 1994 produces an annual death rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. Using this number instead of Lazorou's 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM) estimated 98,000 annual medical errors would add another 216,000 deaths, for a total of 999,936 deaths annually. Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic* deaths is more than all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire history. Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets are falling out of the sky each day."
—Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; Dorothy Smith, PhD, Life Extension Magazine, Death by Medicine, March 2004 (plus 10-Million annual aborticides in USA)
"One hundred forty years ago, the Royal Society in England warned against the railroads, claiming that at speeds over 30 miles per hour, the air supply to the passenger compartment would be cut off and people would die from asphyxiation. And the college of physicians in Munich, for its part, warned that at 30 mph, travelers would suffer headaches, vertigo and possible lose their sight because of a blurring effect. Over 30 mph great catastrophies were predicted, because everyone knew that even a twig would shatter the wheels."
-Jules Burgman, ABC News, NASA Langley Research Center, The Impact of Science on Society, NASA SP-482, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985
Telling the Truth in Motorcycle Crash Statistics
Famous Person Says Leave Bikers Alone on the Dragon
"There has been an average of 2.4 motorcycle fatalities per year for the past six years on the stretch." - I travel from the west coast to ride your beautiful hi-ways and sadly on my last trip arrived just after one of these sad tragedies. and was nearly hit by the same semi that killed the rider before I arrived. Yes I said Semi, big rig, 18 wheeler, that's what killed that poor rider and many others through the years NOT speed! Apparently North Carolina has laws banning trucks of this size from this hi-way but turns a blind eye after all who's it gonna hurt a biker? and Tennessee doesn't care about safety either because cry's to stop the trucks has fallen into that same category (who cares! it was only a biker). Speed is an important factor on all roads not only excessive speeds but also speeds that impede the flow of traffic and the arrogant self righteous people that think others should follow them well below posted speeds or risk going around rather than using provided turnouts to let others pass safely. This could have been a great article if you had sat down and interviewed all involved rather than getting a biased one-sided opinion and puking it out as the Gospel but then again why should you have any integrity in your reporting when all the other major journalist have sold their integrity for a fluff story. Enforce the laws that exist before throwing mankind into chains.
I'm a frequent tourist to the area - and if it were not for winding roads, I wouldn't be there (and spending money) - and there are plenty of others doing the same. But, be that as it may, and having just spent two weeks in the area, my perspective is that the sport riders doing truly high speeds are rare (I never saw it at all) and overwhelmed by the number of cruisers, many of whom ride VERY slowly but will not do the courteous thing by using the paved pull-outs to let others pass safely. Tractor-trailer units are another scary thought; a 53-foot trailer can not fit on that road and stay in its own lane. When will Tennessee do the right thing and ban tractor-trailers with longer than 30 foot trailers on that road, the same as what North Carolina has done (but seems not to be enforcing very much)?
As far as speed limits, the 5...0 mph speed limit from 411 to the lakes seems reasonable (I could do that in my tow vehicle with ample safety margin), the 40 mph speed limit by the lakes is surely under-posted as a revenue-generator (no apparent reason for it to be any different from the 50 zone), and the 30 mph speed limit in Deals Gap itself is under-posted and can easily and safely be exceeded by someone on a scooter, nevermind a decent car. If there is a problem with a small number of people exceeding a speed limit by a huge margin, then reducing that speed limit is not going to help - the artificially low speed limit will just annoy everyone else and won't affect someone who is already exceeding it by a huge margin.
Deals Gap is not a good place for inexperienced riders, nor is it a good place for oversized vehicles (tractor-trailers that simply won't fit on the road), nor is it a good place for vehicles with handling problems (motorcycles with inadequate cornering clearance, and particularly trikes - many of the fatalities in the last few years have involved trikes of home-built or kit-built design, which are often prone to overturning).
If the real problem for the residents is noise (and I suspect this to be the case), then where is the enforcement for that?
By the way, I appreciate the enforcement on staying on the correct side of the center line. Let's see it applied to the tractor-trailers equally ... and on balance, let's see some enforcement for those who block traffic from passing by going very slowly and not using the pull-offs.See More
The state could obviously give $0.02 about the safety of motorcyclists. If the state cared anything about the safety of motorcyclists they wouldn't have "cleaned" the ditches on 129 from the state line to Tabcat bridge, which effectively did absolutely nothing except put large amounts of dirt and gravel in the road. Law enforcement is not on "The Dragon" to protect anyone, they are there for revenue purposes. As far as the speed limit on 129 North of Tabcat Bridge, if anything it should be raised by at least 15mph, no engineering survey has ever been completed on the road, the speed limits are arbitrary numbers. The road along Chilhowee Lake is wide and straight, for it to have a 40mph speed limit is especially ludicrous. Comparing the speed limit on 129 to the speed limit on 411 is completely irrelevant, 411 has a much different traffic flow, volume of traffic, and far fewer cross streets, schools, businesses, and driveways which if anything would negate a higher speed limit than that of 411.
What they don't say or even ask about are the Cruisers that do 5mph and wobble through out every corner is a danger to the people behind him. Then if you pass this rider that can't even ride his own bike. then you are the bad guy for getting away from a situation that might put your self in danger. Funny how they say a sportbike passing them at the posted speed limit is dangerous but the guy on a cruiser that trys to show off in front of a photographer and wrecks goes into the other lane and takes me out is the good guy. kind of twisted right? 8 out of 10 fatalities are cruiser riders that don't know the capabilities of their vehicle. Nor even understand the most basic rider skill of counter steering.
Now on the reducing the speed limit. That is a great idea!! When the speed limit was lowered to 30 mph on the 11 mile stretch the death rate increased dramatically........... I love people that don't have a clus about what they are talking about and blabbering on like they do. They idiot diarrhea of the mouth.
Right... decreasing the speed limit saves lives...
Mr. Ashby didn't mention how conversation has to stop (inside your home)until 25 to 30 bikes go by. I love to hear the single sound of a Harley, but together it's just a loud roar. It breaks by heart when they go roaring by, praying that they will all be comeing back in one piece.
AND if people that came from across the land to ride the fabled 'dragon' knew how to ride, there would be no need for passing. I have been behind riders that go 10 mph..... if you are that scared, don't go up there because you are putting everyone in danger. I do the speed limit, no more, no less. I am not one of the 'passers' but am friends with some of them I am sure...
Riding is fun dont know why young people think getting killed is should have a place 4 a chance to recieve jesus i mean if u want to get hurt or killed go out the right way huh
Please read what you have written and then tell me what the hell you are talking about. And i am sorry you seem to be dressed like the rest of the people who cause the most of the problems up there let me guess you dont have a full faced helmet or protective leathers. how many times did you ride in overalls and flip flops this year. Please if you are going to comment please at least be educated enough to make sense when you type a message.Thank you
THP Troopers Die in Motorcycle Crashes...945 To Go
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