OCEAN CITY, Md. -- Discussions surfaced in Ocean City this week over the pros and cons of the annual event. Those talks began right after, according to the Ocean City Police Department, a drunk motorcyclist hit 16-year old Tyler Walsh while he was crossing Philadelphia Avenue.
Walsh remains in critical condition at shock trauma in Baltimore.
At Monday's council meeting, Ocean City councilmember Carol Proctor was critical of bike week and the negative impacts the revving engines left behind.
"I want to challenge the council to take a look at this event for next year and look at the pros and the cons and the strain that it puts on Ocean City and to determine whether it's something that we want to have in the future," said Proctor.
Proctor isn't alone in her criticism. Concerns over bike week swept through Worcester County and came to light at Tuesday's commissioner meeting.
Worcester officials are eyeing a county-wide special event zone. It would lower the speed limit on major highways like Route 50 and would give police more authority for traffic violations.
Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli told WBOC it's needed.
"When you have the volume that we had this past weekend or with any of these special events or major weekends in the summertime, it's extremely taxing on our first responders," said Crisafulli.
Route 50, Route 90 and US 113 are all hotspots during bike week, and all of them are areas where Crisafulli wants a special event zone in place.
"The special event zone can certainly compliment the work that our men and women do and give us more of a resource and hopefully be more of a deterrent to the people coming here to slow down and get here safely and get home safely," said Crisafulli.
A special event zone was not in place in Ocean City or Worcester County for bike week. Ocean City police told us earlier this week, the event has not warranted one in past years.
The topic is on the agenda for the Motor Event Task Force meeting on September 26th.
