Trolly Release

As we roll into August, many riders from across the county are looking forward to the Harley Davidson 115th Reunion in Milwaukee. Along with the riders, many businesses are looking forward to increased money in their till as riders come to Milwaukee spending on hotels, food, drink and entertainment. Other area riders were enjoying riding into to the downtown area to work and recreate.

Unfortunately, Milwaukee and particularly the downtown area is not presenting itself as a motorcycle, bicycle or pedestrian friendly city. The issue is Milwaukee’s new downtown trolley that the mayor has promoted as a safe, convenient alternative downtown traffic system which is extremely dangerous to motorcyclists and other roadway users on two wheels.

Now that the construction on the track is done and testing of the trolley is beginning, reports are coming out about injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists because of the poor design of the rails. Recently, a lawsuit was filed against the city and the contractor by a motorcyclist that was severely injured after he was thrown from his motorcycle trying to cross the tracks.

ABATE of Wisconsin is advising motorcyclists to use extreme caution or to avoid the downtown region of Milwaukee altogether while visiting the city due to potentially negligent design of the tracks which could cause violent changes in direction and the potential of operators losing control and crashing.

As the trolley starts service on a scheduled path, potential serious injuries and fatalities are sure to increase because of the design and other issues caused by the trolleys pace and path of travel.Unfortunately, before millions of dollars were spent on this system reaching out to partners in the state like ABATE of Wisconsin could have pointed out potential issues saving money and injuries. ABATE of Wisconsin will continue to monitor the situation with hopes of keeping all roads in Wisconsin safe for all roadway users.