All Photos Courtesy of Tailofthedragon.com

I’ve been following the story for awhile, but I’ve finally decided to voice my opinion about it. It seems like Tennessee Highway Patrol is at it again with the harassment of tourists, especially those on motorcycles, and the issuing of ridiculous tickets. If you don’t have a clue what’s going on, you can read all about it on the Tail Of The Dragon website, but I’ll give you the shortened version. Please check out Tail of the Dragon anyway for updates on the story as well as videos and photos that are proof positive of what’s going on.

Basically the THP along with the Blunt County Sheriff’s office have decided to “clean up” US 129 also known as Deals Gap and The Tail of the Dragon. You’ve heard me talk about this spot of road with 318 curves in 11 miles many times. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know it well by now. It’s that one great spot in Tennessee that we like to travel to every few weeks for a day full of riding.

Over the past few weeks THP and BCSO have been hitting the dragon hard with patrols, and we all welcome the appearance of police to keep things orderly, but it’s gotten out of hand. THP has been harassing tourists on motorcycles AND in cars, writing tickets for absurd infractions, and pulling people over for no reason.

What’s worse is the fact that this is a FEDERAL highway, yet the Tennesee Troopers and Blunt County Sheriff have basically brought all tourism in the area to a dead stop with their blatant harassment. This isn’t the first time THP has been involved in harassment or other problems for that matter.

The way I see it, THP is doing nothing but hurting Tennessee. This is a great stretch of road that motorcyclists and sports car enthusiasts enjoy because of the curves, but it’s also a big tourism area because of the scenery. After all, ALCOA Corp turned 11,000 acres of this area over to the Nature Conservancy Corp. It was then passed on to Forest Service in January 2007 as part of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. That means not only is it federally protected, but it’s a big tourist area because of it’s beauty.

THP is hurting the economy of Tennessee by doing this. Tourists don’t want to visit an area where they’re not welcome, so why spend money there? Part of the Dragon is located in North Carolina, and it’s just as easy to find a hotel and spend money there. North Carolina welcomes tourists while Tennessee is chasing them away. Tennessee businesses are already feeling an impact, and several larger businesses have decided to stop supplying services and goods to Tennessee.

On top of everything, the police in the area are handing out tickets left and right for crossing the double yellow (and in some cases touching the yellow), passing illegally, and speeding. The tickets SHOULD be handed out if they are JUSTIFIED, but THP and BCSO should follow their own laws! There are videos, photos, and eye witness accounts of these police crossing the double yellow (driving in the wrong lane), pulling u-turns in blind curves, and endangering passengers in other vehicles! Something’s got to be done about this! Police presence is a great when it’s done correctly, but this is one instance when it’s gotten out of control.

Check out the videos below to see how out of hand this has gotten with the Tennessee STATE police presence on what should be a gorgeous scenic FEDERAL highway. All I want to know is, if all the Tennessee cops are busy patrolling this 11 miles of road, who’s watching out for the rest of the state?

If you read this story, please feel free to use the “Share This” button below to pass this story along via Digg, Stumble, or any of the many other services available.