Motorcycle Gang Terrorizes Tollway

There’s more than one reason to ride the tollway. When you pony up and pay for pavement, you’re not only getting a less-trafficky road, you’re also getting extra speed limit leeway. The posted limit is higher than the freeway, 65 instead of the normal (and rarely observed) 60, but the real difference is far more than 5 mph. Tacit though it may be, the understanding is basically pay your fee and ride at your own risk. It’s Dallas’ version of the autobahn.

While this offers a certain, expedient advantage, it clearly has its pitfalls. Case in point: Motorcycle Gangs. At 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 8, about a dozen motorcyclists took over the 10000 block of the North Tollway, blocking all lanes of traffic, performing stunts and videotaping them, police reports said. One motorcyclist collided with a white 2005 Chrysler, causing $900 worth of damage, and fled the scene.

Senior Corporal Kevin Janse of the Dallas Police Department said although accidents are uncommon, the reports of renegade riders are not. Janse said the department receives calls several times a month about the daredevils on two wheels.

“We try to get out there fast enough to catch them, but it’s such a brief incident,” he said.

Janse said the number of reports have diminished, as they previously received one or two calls a week.

We’re trying to put together a story on this and want to speak with Park Cities residents who have encountered maniac motorcyclists on the tollway. So leave a comment, call us up, or email me at claire@peoplenewspapers.com

By Claire St. Amant Aug. 13, 2010 | 1:50 pm | 19 Comments | Comments RSS
19 comments to "Motorcycle Gang Terrorizes Tollway"
  1. 1Zima2Many @ August 13, 2010 at 2:43 pm
    A little off-topic, but I have seen groups (“gangs”?) of crazy motorcycle dudes on Central late on Thursday nights on numerous occasions. I sometimes go to an open mic-type thing at Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum on Thursday nights. It usually breaks up around 12:30 or so. There have been at least a half dozen times that I’ve been driving home, going north on Central and 10 to 15 motorcycles have passed me all at once going at least 100 mph.
    Hope that helps.

  2. bc @ August 13, 2010 at 4:40 pm
    I’ve seen them on 75 Northbound on Sunday afternoons in the past. It’s been a while. Usually 5 or 6 of them where a few pull back to block traffic, one pulls up front to clear space and then falls back to let a guy in the middle do some stupid stunt.

    I saw a guy standing on his seat headed West on NW Hwy between the Tollway and Inwood.

    I generally just keep a distance or exit the highway completely. Realizing it wouldn’t be my fault, it would still be slightly traumatic to run over a fallen stunter.

    But then again, it might be a favor to the world at large…

    Ok, ok, traumatic.

  3. Jk @ August 13, 2010 at 5:20 pm
    There was an accident on 35 (I believe it was) where some motorcyclists were doing stunts and racim just a few weeks back. One of the motorcyclists wheels fell off. A large contingent of them turned around and came back down the freeway (going the wrong way!). An 18 wheeler slammed on his brakes and the car behind him slid completely under the 18 wheeler killing all 4 family members inside. It was a family visiting Dallas. My husband was in a golf tournament with some of his clients last week. So sad. Motorcycles are so stupid. I know there are responsible riders but still…..

    Alternately one of my close friends has 4 friends spread out over the US who have lost their husbands in motorcycle acidents!

  4. Cathy @ August 13, 2010 at 5:49 pm
    I have seen this on the tollway. The motorcyclist was doing a wheelie on his back wheel. There was a SUV following it filming it. I called 911.

  5. Adam @ August 13, 2010 at 9:26 pm
    The “Hey, we’d sure like to help, but it’s such a brief incident” excuse from the cops is tired, absurd, and worthy of hearty rebuke. Many crimes, if not most, are brief incidents: break-ins, car thefts, shootings, you name it. Since when is the duration of a given crime an excuse for the authorities to shrug it off? What should count is the severity of the activity and its potential harmful repercussions. We’re talking about maniacs attempting vehicular acrobatics in plain sight on 500+lb. machines at 100+m.p.h. on public thoroughfares–endangering innocent lives purely for kicks. Sounds like a poorly-written “post apocalyptic” script from the 1970s. It’s unacceptable. Get more personnel out there and catch them.

  6. AD @ August 13, 2010 at 9:41 pm
    I almost got T-Boned trying to avoid a group on the tollway. This is a problem.

  7. Bill @ August 14, 2010 at 9:47 am
    This youtube video in the link below clearly illustrates the problem. Filmed on Memorial Day Weekend between the Mockingbird and SMU Blvd bridges.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0dvDTU3lXU

    This was a “memorial” for a guy who was involved in an accident with his motorcycle. A one vehicle accident involving only himself while he was stunt riding. I do not understand why they picked Central as the spot since his wreck occured in the mid cities, many miles away.

    The good news is that these sport bike riders rarely last long in their chosen hobby. It is difficult to find people who last more than 2 years riding these bikes. They all crash and either die or quit from injuries. Then they move on to something else. It is just a fad for them. A passing fancy like a little girl collecting My Little Ponies. They quickly give it up and move into something else.

    They are spoiled man children and should be treated as such.

  8. Eric @ August 15, 2010 at 6:22 pm
    @JK – It was on I-45, a flat tire, and 2 males in a Buick were killed. Just to get the facts straight. A few others:

    -Motorcycles are inanimate and neither stupid nor not stupid
    -SOME motorcyclists are stupid
    -I personally have friends spread out all over the US who have lost family members in accidents. None of this is statistically significant

    Search engines are your friend:

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071710dnmeti45crash.14547fb2b.html

  9. Jk @ August 16, 2010 at 8:05 am
    Well then this must have been a different accident bc it was definitely a family of four that was killed…..

  10. tb @ August 16, 2010 at 11:08 am
    Echoing an earlier comment: Thursday night on Central is motorcycle madness. I live next to 75 between SMU Boulevard and Lovers Lane. The soundwall, which normally does a great job of blocking all the noise (at least from inside the house), seems to be completely porous to the sound of bikes screaming up the freeway.

  11. Sol Rosenburg @ August 16, 2010 at 12:49 pm
    In June, my son and I were coming south on the tollway around Walnut Hill. I was doing the customary 83mph, just poking along, and suddenly about 15 high-performance street bikes flashed past us at speeds of at least 130mph. One right after the other. zip…zip,zip….zip…

    As hard as I tried for the next several minutes I could not catch up with them to get their license plate numbers. Had to shut it down from 120mph after getting stuck behind some slow jackass in the left lane.

  12. Donlad @ August 16, 2010 at 9:33 pm
    Motorcycles are a huge nuisance on every Thursday night around 10:00pm-11:00pm. I have never witnessed them but can hear them and it’s obvious it’s a large number of “Ninja” donor cyclyes going full out based on the screaming loud noise. It comes in waves throughout the hour. I have pondered contacting DPS but I’m not sure if they work evening patrols on the Tollway.

  13. Simon Sez @ August 20, 2010 at 6:19 pm
    “Janse said the number of reports have diminished, as they previously received one or two calls a week.” Well, Janse doesn’t know what he is talking about. Call the Texas Dept. of Public Safety dispatch @ 214-224-2200 and talk to the dispatchers. Every night from about 10-11 p.m. the “road pizzas” (I pray they go splat on the pavement like a pizza) go screaming down the tollway. The sound is horrific and residents always call to complain. Guess what? The Texas Dept. of Public Safety has the same response: the bikers are too fast and many of them ride without license plates. Law enforcement has totally copped out on this problem. Wimps! Please get on their case.

  14. Not My Typical Thursday Night « Preston Hollow People @ August 27, 2010 at 11:38 am
    [...] wouldn’t find myself surrounded by bikers on the side of the highway. But after writing this post, I decided to delve a little deeper into the issue. I’d interviewed DPD, DPS, and affected [...]

  15. ZILLA! @ August 27, 2010 at 12:35 pm
    First off all of you are probably just having bad experiences i agree that there are irresponsible riders out there most of them are the speed freaks tho who love to haul ass i personally know 89% of the so called stupid stunt riders and they all have families and amazing jobs and stunting on the highways isnt an issue its the speed freaks so until you experience the thrill and passion and love of a motorcycle i suggest you should all stay in your house and cry about it the only thing that can catch a biker is with a helicopter and at that mast bikers i know are such amazing riders that a helicopter cant even find them so just breath and relax and try to cope with the fact that motorcyclist are just going to continue to grow and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it …try and film HA HA they film their own stunts …try and chase them down you will wreck before they do and that’s just the dumbest idea you could try… try and get a plate number either they are too fast to see it or they dont ride with one so people please try i encourage you until next time im zilla and all you can do is complain

  16. M @ August 27, 2010 at 2:20 pm
    that’s one major run-on sentence. the elementary school teachers would take a ruler to your knuckles.

  17. ZILLA! @ August 28, 2010 at 7:28 am
    lol they better hit hard cuz i love teachers spanking me!! lmao!

  18. ch @ September 22, 2010 at 1:16 pm
    well, finally one met his match in the back of a Ford truck a couple weeks ago. Natural selection at it’s best.

  19. JT @ May 5, 2011 at 4:15 pm
    There is one sure fire way to help with this problem…changes lanes quickly in the middle of one of these packs. You will contribute by getting at least one to stop!!!

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