WASHINGTON 鈥� Days after the Capital Beltway buzzed with speeding motorcyclists, ATV and dirt bike riders, a local fire chief is still fuming.
Prince George鈥檚 County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor said his firefighters and EMTs respond to more than 350 motorcycle wrecks a year. He watched footage of Sunday鈥檚 ride thinking, 鈥淭hese are more people we鈥檒l be picking up off the street.鈥�
The bikers, many responding to a social media announcement of a 鈥淪unday Funday鈥� ride on Dec. 27, clogged roadways 鈥� from the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway in Prince George鈥檚 County to U.S. 50 and Interstate 295.
They alarmed motorists trapped by the resulting traffic mess.
Some of the participants in Sunday鈥檚 ride wrote on social media that they were out to have fun, but Bashoor sees it differently: 鈥淭o see these people out there putting themselves in harm鈥檚 way, putting other people in harm鈥檚 way and thinking that it鈥檚 鈥榡ust fun鈥� 鈥� that just made me angry.鈥�
Aside from the potential threat, Bashoor says, there鈥檚 an economic impact to every incident on the Beltway.聽Some 1.5 percent of the nation鈥檚 gross national product goes up and down I-95 every day, he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 all kinds of commerce going up and down that road, and every time you affect that road, it鈥檚 another hit in the gut to our businesses and of our communities and the people who depend on those deliveries.鈥�
Bashoor said the biggest problem is the threat to public safety posed by the type of riding that took place Sunday. Reckless and dangerous riding by clusters of motorcycle and sport-bike operators has been a long-standing problem, but Sunday鈥檚 ride was on a much larger scale than incidents of the past.
鈥淚鈥檓 afraid it鈥檚 going to take some of them having to go visit the morgue to identify their family member or one of their friends,鈥� Bashoor said.
鈥淥r having to stand on the stoop and tell a mom or a dad that it was their child that died in a wreck. I鈥檓 afraid it鈥檚 going to take one of those things to happen before it really sinks in to these people that this is the wrong thing to do.鈥�
草莓传媒’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
