We came upon a fellow biker down yesterday evening just south of Arlington on Highway 9. Lots of people around but looked like either he or a car missed the light. It didn't look good. If anybody knows of his condition, I would appreciate knowing.

 

That sucks. I was commenting to my wife last night we'd not seen any accidents. Sorry to hear that.


Scott

 

There's nothing in the local paper about the Arlington crash, however there were several other wrecks associated with the Oyster Run,including two fatalities. Don't you love how they make such a point in the story of whether or not the riders were wearing helmets?

And one poor schmuck crashed his '57 Panhead when some dumb17-year-old failed to yield right-of-way.

Here's the article:


Two people killed in motorcycle accidents Four others injured over weekend [/align]
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER

[/b]Staff Writer
Two people died and four others were injured over the weekend in traffic accidents involving motorcycles as thousands flocked to Anacortes for the 26th annual Oyster Run.
Anacortes Police Capt. Bonnie Bowers estimated that there were fewer visitors to the Oyster Run this year than in the past, with about 9,000 to 10,000 motorcyclists taking part. She said there were no major incidents in Anacortes during the event.
“It was a very good crowd in town,” Bowers said.
But the State Patrol responded to five traffic accidents in the area between Saturday and Sunday.
The first occurred Saturday when an Everett man riding a 2006 Harley-Davidson was traveling northbound on Farm-to-Market Road near Allen West Road. Troopers said the motorcycle left the road, entered a ditch and struck a culvert. The rider, 47-year-old Brian Dean, died at the scene after he was ejected and struck a wooden post, according to troopers. He was wearing a helmet.
Another motorcyclist died Sunday on Chuckanut Drive, three miles south of Bellingham. Troopers said Ralph Thomas Easterbrook, 46, of Surrey, B.C., was attempting to pass a 1987 Mercedes 300 driven by a person who also was from Surrey.
The Mercedes slowed and Easterbrook, riding a 2008 Harley-Davidson, crashed into the rear of the vehicle. He was wearing a helmet.
Three additional accidents Sunday involving motorcycles injured four people.
Troopers said a motorcyclist riding northbound on Bayview- Edison Road rounded a corner too fast and lost control of her 1995 Harley-Davidson. Candace Jo Decker, 60, of Camano Island was transported to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, troopers said. She was wearing a helmet.
A rider and passenger were injured Sunday afternoon on Highway 20 while negotiating a curve after their 2007 Honda struck a culvert and ejected both riders. Driver Victor Myers, 37, of Silverdale was wearing a helmet and was transported to Whidbey General Hospital. Sondra Foster, 37, of Tacoma was wearing a helmet and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She was in satisfactory condition this morning.
A rider was injured late Sunday when troopers said a 1999 Honda Accord failed to yield to a motorcycle turning onto Interstate 5 from Highway 534.
Monty Ballhorn, 60, of Lynnwood was riding a 1957 Harley-Davidson when he was struck by the Accord. Ballhorn was airlifted to Harborview and was in critical condition this morning. He was wearing a helmet.
The 17-year-old driver of the Accord was not injured.
Troopers said that alcohol may have been a factor in some of the accidents.
The State Patrol had about 15 troopers working overtime Sunday in Skagit County, including an aircraft monitoring speeding vehicles and motorcycles on Highway 20. Twenty motorcyclists were cited Sunday for aggressive or negligent driving on Highway 20, Trooper Kirk Rudeen said.
“Obviously, when you have that many bikes, you just can’t stop anything, but I think we put everything we could on the table,” he said. “We had a lot of assets out.”
The number of fata

 

Thanks for that update. I know we saw a sherriff screaming north to the Highway 9 incident but maybe WSP wasn't involved. That is probably a good sign as I'm sure they would have been if it would have serious.

 

Interesting the estimate of 9-10K bikes. They announced at the beer garden 26K bikes there. I wonder who does the counting . . . .

All said it was an extrmely enjoyable event! Took my bride and 7 bikes from my house and had a very nice and safe event! Even the weather was decent! A bit chilly early but warmed up nicely later.

Scott

 

That's about right, for the grand total all day in and out.
I did a count a few years ago. On the few blocks of Main Street where bikes can be parked down the centerlines, in addition to those against the curbs, I counted 300 bikes max. per block There are about 4-5 of those blocks. 1500?
Most of the main blocks have little or no parking on the side streets since the vendors occupy that space, but for the sake of arriving at a number, every side street averaged about 100 bikes, each side, by my count. if we call it 8 blocks, (I recall it's really LESS than 8) that's 8 x 200?; another 1600 tops?
Additional bikes parked at the curb on blocks not able to be parked down the centerline; another 3 x 80ish. 250 tops?
Additional bikes parked in the few big shopping parking lots maybe another 1500 tops?
Additional bikes parked around the whole perimeter of down town, maybe 1000 tops?

So maybe 6000 bikes at any one time; half that again maybe for the constant turnover of bikes throughout the day?
So maybe 9000 -10,000 total for the Run, and that might be stretching it, unless the turnout this year was larger than usual.

I've got some pics from a couple of years ago when the Anacortes Fire Dept. had the scaffold set up in the middle of one of the blocks. I guess they stopped that for insurance reasons, or was it there this year again?

I started to go down Sunday and got as far as across the border into Lynden, WA (by 8:20 a.m.) and turned around and went back home figuring I'd been to enough Oyster Runs in the past. I couldn't wrap my head around the whole 'sitting in the stop and go rigamarole' to get into Anacortes. Never mind leaving town at the end of the day.

The border lineups were real ugly, like they are most weekends, only now that the CDN$ is at par with the U.S.$ the Canadian shoppers were down in full force., and then some. I can only imagine what the borders were like going back northward.

Whomever came up with that figure is severely delusional. The total number of people couldn't be anywhere near that.


CN

 

This morning on the BellighamRadio Station, they mentione a guy rear ending a car on chuckant Dr.
He did not make it.
May he RIP and those that are injured make a speedy and full recovery !!!
Be Safe Out There.
Rob

 

I had a great time, I am really sad for the riders who crashed or lost their lives coming/going to the event. Percentage wise for even 10K bikes that is a very low percentage of accidents compared to overall bikes riding in or out of it. Nonetheless, one accident is to damn many!




[IMG]local://upfiles/40135/13BC6B7EB9C94270B548474983BE9FA5.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/40135/DD45A2F0110D45FFB011ACB3CC26F24A.jpg[/IMG]

 

Nice photos! Thanks for sharing!
Scott

 

Sad to hear about the fatalities. When we were leaving Anacortes on hwy 20, traffic was backed up for miles for the crash earlier.
All in all, while we were there, it was a good, peaceful rally. Bikes were continually coming and going in and out of town. I don't know how anybody could get an accurate count of how many bikes attended. I did hear a Seattle tv sta report "20k" bikes. I thought that was a bit over the top.
Anyway, I'll be back next year....