Spokane7
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April 25, 2011 in City
Honda model chosen as troopers’ new ride
WSP’s preferred motorcycle had been BMW
Washington State Trooper Jeff Sevigney waits on a new Honda motorcycle for a truck to pass before pulling it over along Highway 195 last week.
(Full-size photo)
Ninety years ago, the Washington State Patrol was formed with troopers riding Indian motorcycles.
The iconic bikes were replaced in recent years with BMW motorcycles for the state’s 43 troopers that ride on two wheels.
Now, those troopers are getting new rides: the WSP is switching to Honda.
“I think it’s a little bit smoother than the BMW, especially at higher speeds,” said Trooper Jeff Sevigney, one of four motorcycle troopers in the Spokane region.
“It’s a little bit easier to ride,” he said.
The Honda ST 1300 PA is powered by a four-cylinder engine arranged in a “V” alignment with a five-speed transmission. The model was introduced in Europe in 2002. It has well-placed crash bars along the sides to protect the driver in case of a spill.
The bike will get Sevigney in and out of tight spaces and can go where a patrol car cannot. “We are less noticeable,” he said.
The 15-year veteran won’t say how fast the motorcycle will go. “Fast enough is what I tell people,” he said.
Last week, he was working traffic along U.S. Highway 195 near Cheney-Spokane Road as part of a stepped-up enforcement and safety program along that busy corridor.
It didn’t take long for him to pull over a few drivers. Within a few minutes, he nailed a semitruck driver going over the limit.
Motorcycle troopers typically ride from March to November. They retreat to cars during winter months.
A statement from WSP headquarters said, “The Honda ST 1300 PA was specifically manufactured for law enforcement use.
“The Honda was chosen over other models because of the balance, maneuverability, acceleration, overall performance, availability of service, and lower purchase and maintenance costs.”
Speeding often cited along detour
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reports that one of its deputies has been writing a lot of speeding tickets in the vicinity of Perry Street and 54th Avenue, where traffic is being detoured around reconstruction of Hatch Road.
The work has closed Hatch from 43rd to 57th avenues, which is just inside the Spokane city limits. The tickets were being written in an area just outside the city.
Input sought for pedestrian bridge
The city of Spokane is asking the public for help in deciding what type of pedestrian bridge would be best for crossing the mainline BNSF Railway tracks at the University District.
The bridge will link the East Sprague Avenue area with the college campus to the north of the BNSF line along Spokane Falls Boulevard and a new Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
To participate in the survey, go to udbridge study.blogspot.com or surveymonkey.com/s/ UDBridgeSurvey2011.
Studded tire extension ends
Today is the last day in Washington that studded tires will be allowed for the season.
Lingering winter weather prompted the state Department of Transportation to postpone the removal deadline from April 1.
Street repairs bring delays
Northbound traffic on Division Street is likely to be slow again this week as the result of a repaving project between Euclid and Francis avenues.
Remember, there are plenty of other routes for north-south travel, including Getting There’s favorite – Crestline Street.
Slowdowns are also expected on Interstate 90 west of downtown where work is under way to eliminate ruts and damage largely caused by studded winter tires.
Also, work on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass is causing slowdowns and delays depending on the time of day or day of the week.
Rolling slowdowns are expected during daylight hours this week. Nighttime traffic will be restricted to one lane.
It’s a good idea to check the work schedule before departing at wsdot.wa. gov/projects/i90/whats happening.
STA board approves more bus service cuts
The Spokane Transit Authority board last week approved cuts in bus service that will amount to 7 percent of the budget. It’s the second consecutive year of service cuts as STA attempts to align its budget with revenues.
The cuts, mainly to lesser-used routes, take effect Sept. 18. For details, go to spokanetransit.com.
Open house for I-90 planning
The state DOT wants the public’s help in planning for future improvements on I-90 in the Liberty Lake and East Valley areas.
An open house will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Hope Lutheran Church, 17909 E. Broadway Ave.
“The options aim to help commuters and freight haulers get where they need to go faster and easier with added lanes and more efficient on- and off-ramp locations,” according to an announcement.
MLK Jr. Way opens Thursday 
lewis8457 on April 25 at 6:18 a.m.
cops get new bikes
So the State is broke and cutting social programs across the board, but can afford to buy new bikes for the WSP? They only ride them 5 or 6 months out of the year. A BMW will last a lot longer then a couple years, with proper care.
Plus with gas prices will there be as many cars as on the highways? I think not, I know of several seniors that go on a RV vacation but this year are staying home because of possible 5 dollar a gallon prices.
DickAdams on April 25 at 6:20 a.m.
STA is using next September 18th to abolish some routes. Is it necessary to wait 6 months to implement the change?
valleyman on April 25 at 7:17 a.m.
Lewis is just pissed because he got another speeding ticket on his mom’s Lebaron this morning…
johnclarke on April 25 at 8:01 a.m.
I saw a couple of those Hondas in town. Sneaky little machines they are. The had no markings on the front that made it obvious that it was The Man. The only thing that tipped me off was they were riding side by side.
Justsayin' on April 25 at 9:32 a.m.
I don’t see a beemer lasting longer than a Honda.
nitro71 on April 25 at 9:32 a.m.
But the state is going broke! Wonder how old those BMW’s are and how many miles they have on them? In all fairness it probably doesn’t take long to rack up a lot of miles on them.
PlanB on April 25 at 9:43 a.m.
There is no rational reason for needing these things. Another huge waste.
But let’s continue cutting programs for disabled people.
Morons.
johnclarke on April 25 at 10:08 a.m.
Um guys the SP runs the heck out of those machines. I’m thinking that they manage the equipment just fine and don’t need our help. Besides, they probably sell off the used stuff to recoup some of the cost.
The Hondas will probably be much more reliable and less costly to operate. I can also bet that 1300 cc Honda would stomp all over the BMW in the performance dept.
Orphan on April 25 at 10:35 a.m.
Lots of folks in the USA out of work and we buy foreign bikes talk about sending jobs overseas, sending taxes overseas and increasing the trade deficite. Its no wonder we are in trouble finacialy.
selkirks on April 25 at 11:04 a.m.
@Orphan:
The foreign company produces a better product. That’s been the problem with Chrysler, Ford, and GM all along. They aren’t producing products that people want to buy. Honda, Toyota, and BMW are.
And it’s unfair to say that this amounts to sending jobs overseas, because many of these Japanese and European products (cars, motorcycles) are produced in the United States. With American workers. Helping the American economy. I’m not saying that this is the case of all of these products, but the notion that buying Japanese or European cars is detrimental to the U.S. economy is quite misleading.
Orphan on April 25 at 11:30 a.m.
Selkirks The Motorcycles are assembled in the US from parts built in other countrys. The assembly is about 10% of the work. Everytime somneone purchases a foreign car you are lowering the tax base for the US. Slekirks you are the one that is mislead do some research.
The middle class & the middle class jobs started to go away when we started to purchase foreign products. I dont buy foreign cars or especialy foreign motorcycles. Its funny I hear all the negatives about American cars but dont have any roblems with mine 2002 Suburban 192,000 miles I just replaced the fuel pump last week and had to repair the AC loast summer other than that tires, brakes, oil changes and a couple of belts, greatcar. 1998 Chevy PU 162,000 basicaly the same thing, no problems.
We have been sold a bill of goods but keep purchasding foriegn products and complaining that the jobs are going overseas and our tax base is shrinking.
ManleyPointer on April 25 at 11:31 a.m.
WSP can probably sell the BMWs and use the money to offeset a significant percentage of the cost of the Hondas. The BMWs are really expensive to buy and maintain, and unless they’ve modified the saddle from my 1998 R1100RT, they’re supremely uncomfortable over long distances. I like the motorcycle patrols because they’re an irrefutable expression of the REAL reason the WSP exists: to give people tickets and raise revenue.
philipgregory on April 25 at 1:25 p.m.
I saw a state patrol on a new bike on I-90 this morning.
Of course, I didn’t get a good look. He was doing over 65 in the fast lane. No, not chasing anyone or even patrolling for speeders. A pickup tailgated him for quite awhile before going around him. He was just on his way to work west of Spokane.
vkready on April 25 at 1:43 p.m.
what is “pan weave”?
DickAdams on April 25 at 2:01 p.m.
What did Gregoire mean when she said, buy American?
greenlibertarian on April 25 at 3:24 p.m.
http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/2009_Motorcycles_SpecialEdition/2009_policeFire.jsp?locale=en_US
Generally I think our government should buy American company, made in America products, especially vehicles. For all I know, it could be the Hondas are rated far superior and perhaps even cheaper than any other Police-type motorcycle, including the Harley.
Thoreau on April 25 at 3:30 p.m.
Lewis gets mad when a cop uses his gun, or drives a car hitting a careless pedestrian, or gets to ride a new, fuel-efficient motorcycle.
If Lewis had his way, cops would walk everywhere and use harsh language to stop the bad guys.
WayFedUp2 on April 25 at 3:56 p.m.
Why do we keep hearing the state is broke but they keep right on spending. Then they try to rape the tax payers to make up for their immature, irresponsible lack of living within their budget. No one gives me money if I spend more than I have. This is not a free country, that is bull to make us feel all warm and fuzzy while being had.
WayFedUp2 on April 25 at 4:03 p.m.
The only reason I discovered the pretty new unmarked bike was a cop is I was trying to get a look at the big overweight dummy riding on a bike. Looked like an elephant on a football!
greenlibertarian on April 25 at 5:27 p.m.
Apparently Honda doesn’t make motorcycles in the States anymore, if this 2008 report is correct:
By James Hannah, The Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio — Honda Motor (HMC) plans to stop making motorcycles in the USA in spring 2009 and transfer the work to Japan.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-02-27-honda-motorcycles_N.htm?csp=34#
lewis8457 on April 25 at 7:12 p.m.
Thoreau you are right if it was up to me they would be riding unicycles.
Valleyman your drunk cop friend told you wrong it was a Chrysler Lebaron Convertible. Next time dont give him the bottle until he tells you the information. You just make yourself look silly with misinformation.
Spokane_Citizen on April 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Well, as someone owning both Harley-Davidson and metric motorcycles (Yamaha, and Honda, to be specific)…the difficulty for Harley Davidson is that they don’t manufacture a single model that is capable of high speed vehicle pursuit. The Honda ST1300’s (and even the older/smaller ST1100’s) are much faster and more agile than most any high performance production automobile, and utterly dependable….while the same cannot be said for Harley’s technically antiquated line of twin cylinder air-cooled motorcycles.
As for HD being American made…some of the engine is, but most of the bike is foreign made, and shipped here for assembly. Even for Harley, it’s a world market. Get over it.
Gotta luv Harleys…but fast bikes, they aren’t.
JBlim on April 25 at 8:40 p.m.
It’s OK to not buy American if you’re saving the Washington state taxpayers’ money.