SEQUIM — Anticipating an influx of tourists on North Olympic Peninsula roads this weekend, the Washington State Patrol will dispatch a motorcycle patrol detachment from Tacoma to watch for unsafe driving, a State Patrol spokesman said Thursday.
The two motorcycle patrol officers will be out in force today and Saturday, the first two days of the Sequim Lavender Festival, said Brian George, a spokesman for the patrol’s Bremerton command.
Officials are expecting more vehicles will be pulled over by the motorcycles than regular troopers, partly because of their ability to go places full-sized automobiles can’t.
“They can get in and out of traffic quicker,” George said.
“The bikes are small enough to work areas not safe to have patrol cars.”
The motorcycle patrols are used almost exclusively for traffic enforcement and don’t generally respond to other calls like regular troopers.
The two-person motorcycle patrols will be back in August for a weekend.
The patrols are paid for by a grant from the state Traffic Safety Commission.