Bikers Targeted by Checkpoint

By Laurin Penland

Wilmington, NC – Motorcycle activists say Holly Ridge police in Onslow County discriminated against bikers last month when they stopped traffic, but let cars slip through. The police only checked motorcyclists for violations.

The North Carolina Governors Highway Safety Program says it supports all kinds of traffic stops, including biker specific ones, because bikers have a higher percentage of fatal accidents than cars.

But Janice MacKay, director of the N.C. Chapter of a biker activist group, says she thinks the stops are unconstitutional.

"If it were a checkpoint that we're used to, in other words all vehicles get pulled over and checked, I would not think that it was discrimination. And since this was a motorcyclists only checkpoint, it is discrimination."

The Highway Safety Program says traffic stops are an effective way to promote safety and to get drivers to comply with traffic laws.

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