I got one email today that made sense. Read it below.
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I contacted Mike Browning, the Director of Public Affairs for the THP asking for a statement about the enforcement program at Deals Gap and I also asked him some specific questions about the program. I was surprised to hear back this evening. The first part was just a copy of the statement most people have already seen from Lt. Colonel Tracy G. Trott. He did provide me with some statistics from last weekends activity, and it was even broken down by how many citations had been issued to motorcycles and how many to cars. Below is the email he sent me.
There is a lot of controversy right now about the law enforcement situation at Deals Gap. Starting last weekend, and continuing through the month, there will be heavy enforcement by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Deals Gap. Heavy enforcement means 10 to 15 THP units in the nine mile section of road. I was not there last weekend to witness any of this, but I do have some opinions on the situation. I will be down next week, but probably not during the weekend. If I arrive in Knoxville early enough on Sunday, I may ride down to witness first hand what is happening.
We are home from our latest ride to Deals Gap and I have to say it was a great ride. My last two trips down were a little disappointing due to the sheer volume of riders and some pretty reckless driving. I am happy to report that last week everything was totally back to normal! Mark, Cathy, and I all went down and we all had a great time. We took the long way down as well as the long way home and saw lots of great sights on the road and met lots of interesting people.
Next week we will be back in the Deals Gap area for the family vacation. This will be the first time the kids have ever been in the area so it will be fun to have them along. We plan on doing a lot of sightseeing while we are down there, but have not decided exactly what we are going to do. There are so many things to see and do it is really hard to just pick a few.
Happy Fourth of July to all!
Since I have the day off I have added a few roads to my favorite roads section. I added a few roads in Tennessee and Kentucky and made a change to the safety rating I give to Deals Gap.
The situation this year at Deals Gap is getting pretty bad. I don’t like the way things are becoming down there and I think if things don’t change soon it may never get any better. I hear a lot of people blame a lot of different things for why it is so bad. Some blame the slow cruisers, some blame the fast sport bikes. Many point their fingers at the Gold Wing riders or the automobiles. Some blame the police and some blame the businesses that profit from the tourists. Some blame tourists in general.