Dear Editor,

I can still see him lying there. My friend was late coming up Boulder Canyon for a weekend hike. The Canyon was eerily silent, empty of the usual vehicular melee. I walked up my driveway and down the Canyon for about a mile.

A Nederland Fire & Emergency Rescue truck was parked mid-Canyon. People rushed about. Pieces and parts of motorcycles were strewn on the asphalt, oil and gasoline blackened pavement.

There he lie. A young man in motorcycle gear, lifeless. No one was kneeling near his body. They were all tending to a young woman ten feet away.

From the ridge, I peered down. I looked closer.

The motorcyclist’s head was separated from his body. As I looked around, an even more gruesome scene unfolded: His head was still in his helmet.

Paramedics attempted to revive the woman close by, to no avail. Moments later, she, too, was pronounced dead.

Rumor was, it was a young, thirty-something German couple on their honeymoon en route from The Stanley Hotel after a newlywed brunch. The four-pack of crotch-rocket riders screaming up the Canyon that fateful morning was lethally speeding out of control. The third veered over the line, immediately striking the young couple.

That was years ago. Since then, the Canyon has only gotten worse.

Where is Governor Polis in all of this human melee? What is Sheriff Curtis Johnson’s policy, on clamping down on sportbikes routinely using the strip between Boulder and Nederland as their own personal race course?

From our mountain valley below Barker Dam, I witness bands of two or more crotch-rocket riders driving at speeds in excess of 80 mph, passing anywhere from one to several vehicles on the double-yellow on the stretch before Barker Dam (after the legal passing lanes). Saturday morning, I watched as five of them passed four vehicles at once, including the Flatirons Flyer. The oncoming SUVs and Honda had to screech to a halt to avoid a head-on collision.

I’m embarrassed to say I’ve spoken to so many people from Boulder County Dispatch that I know them by voice. Sergeants and lieutenants from Colorado State Patrol are on my phone contacts. I’ve asked for photo enforcement from CDOT to no avail. I’ve met with the Division Chief for the County, prevailed upon my state representatives for more support and funding, all of which falls somewhere between pleas for peace of mind in our mountain community and protests to save our struggling democracy.
A few statistics (iihs.org), for those inclined: 

·      A total of 6,335 motorcyclists died in crashes in 2023,…the highest number ever recorded and a 26% increase since 2019. Motorcycle deaths accounted for 15% of all motor vehicle crash deaths in 2023 and were about triple the number of motorcyclist deaths in 1997.

·      Engine sizes of motorcycles whose drivers were killed in crashes have gone up dramatically. Among motorcycle drivers killed in 2023, 33% drove motorcycles with engine sizes larger than 1,400 cc, compared with 9% in 2000 and less than 1% in 1990.

·      The rate of unlicensed fatally injured motorcycle drivers during 2023 was higher…

·      In contrast, 52% of fatally injured supersport drivers in 2023 were younger than 30.

·      Forty-seven percent of motorcyclist deaths in 2023 occurred on weekends, and those deaths were more likely to occur after 6 p.m. compared with weekdays.

May you all make it safely down the Canyon today. Maybe, do so with a drive-cam, in case one of those homicidal testosterone-fueled sports bikes flies past you…not that you’ll catch a license plate, they tend not to even sport those.

Denise Boehler

Nederland, Colorado