Figure my fellow So Cal motorers would be interested in this. An article ran in yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune regarding Mt. Palomar and the supposed crack down on (primarily) motorcycles taking advantage of it's awesome twisty roads.

From the article ( http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont..._2m25moto.html ): "The CHP made a splash Aug. 10 with a news conference atop the mountain, announcing an enforcement crackdown...targeting unsafe motorcycle riding and other bad driving...Since then, however, only one operation has been conducted on Palomar Mountain...No other enforcement operations are planned...one in October is possible."

The article is mostly about the motorcyclists - primarily older guys blaming all the hubbub on inexperienced riders, a view backed up by the firemen who have to rescue the ones that crash and find that most of the accidents involve riders with less than 3 months' experience (!). Thankfully most riders wear full leathers, so many incidents don't require any attention from firemen or ambulances.

Anyway, I was up there on Saturday morning for a beautiful drive without a single car ahead of me on the way up South Grade or on the way down East Grade. It was interesting to see this article the next day. I guess the big crackdown never really took place. Hopefully people will treat the road respectfully, and law enforcement attention will fade away. I'd hate to get pulled over for having fun up there (at a safe, reasonable rate of speed, of course!) because some idiots drew police attention to it again.

 

I agree....it is always the inexperienced (both two and four wheels) that bring the all seeing eye of the police to the Mtn.
I rode up a few weeks ago on my Buell....just me and a bud and we were the only ones up and we were alone at the top for about 20 minutes. Then the rest of riders started showing up, and we left (did have one local stop at the Post Office and gave us the dirtiest of looks ). Respect the road(s) we drive on, or we will not have the luxury of having a "little fun". Drive safe, respect the residents!

 

another mini driver and i went for a drive up palomar a couple months ago. stopped just at the base - as the road was closed. a bit later, an ambulance and helicopter came to pick-up a motorcycle rider. After it opened, a few turns later there was another motorcycle down.

Sad for everyone.

 

Eight or nine years ago, I took a Sunday ride up to Palomar on my Honda CBX.

After seeing all the things some idiots were doing on that road, I swore I'd never ride it on a weekend again. It was scary - guys passing cars on the wrong side of the road, passing over double yellows in blind curves, etc.

Over a ways to the east on Mesa Grande Road, I was coming down through the twisties. There was a shattered sport bike fairing hung up in the bushes next to the road - a clear warning. I heeded it.

For the most part, I've stayed off those roads on weekends. Only exception has been group runs with MINIs. Still see the same behavior by some motorcyclists. I'm not suprised at a crackdown.