Police chief: Avoid distracted driving, remain road-aware for remainder of Motorcycle Week

WEIRS BEACH — City leaders emphasized the importance of driving without distractions and remaining aware on the road through the end of Laconia Motorcycle Week, which has had no fatal accidents so far, during a press conference at the NASWA Resort on Friday morning. 

“Yesterday we saw some significant crowds on Lakeside [Avenue] during the day. Motor vehicle accidents were significantly down, which is a really good thing,” Police Chief Matt Canfield said. “Coming into the weekend we would advise people to stay off that yellow line, we’ve seen a lot of that lately.”

Jennifer Anderson, deputy director of Laconia Motorcycle Week, echoed Canfield’s remarks about the importance of staying aware and navigating regional roads and highways safely.

“You’re in their line of impact,” Anderson said. “Don’t do that ... just stay away from it.”

With pleasant weather expected into the weekend, Canfield cautioned drivers to mind the larger crowds anticipated through the final weekend of the rally.

“Caution people to drive carefully, and then certainly tomorrow is supposed to be a great day so we expect the crowds to build and be a lot busier moving into the weekend,” Canfield said Friday. “...Especially with all of the distractions on the road between texting and listening to the radio and everything else that people have going on in the car.” 

“Distractions are a real thing, so you’ve got to be careful,” Anderson said.

Though the rally is winding down, the crowds are only growing larger day-by-day, and organizers expected the weekend to be among the busiest times of the event.

“There’s still people arriving today for this second weekend,” Anderson said. “We want people to get out, go to different venues. I know the NASWA here has live music day and night on the beach ... there’s live music everywhere so get out and about.”

City Manager Kirk Beattie, a former city fire chief, noted six Laconia firefighters recently became certified to perform rapid sequence intubation, an advanced paramedicine technique, which the city has been working for years to achieve.

“The Laconia Fire Department has six members now that are certified in a procedure called rapid sequence intubation, RSI,” Beattie said. “When you’re not breathing, they can put a tube in and they can breathe for you. That’s standard, we’ve been doing that forever, that’s a normal paramedic skill. When you’re still breathing but need to have your airway managed, like when you go in for surgery, they give you medicine that stops you from breathing and they can still intubate for you and breathe for you. It’s a very, very specialized skill, it takes a lot of training to do.”

Laconia Fire Chief Tim Joubert told city councilors earlier this month of the achievement, describing it as significant, one that could have made a difference in at least a few accidents during Laconia Motorcycle Week in years past.

“If somebody’s in trauma, you need to manage their airway,” he said. “You need to be able to breathe for them and sometimes you can’t without this skill, to be able to add this skill is really a game-changer.”

Beattie added the skills could prove invaluable in the future. 

“It’s something that the Laconia Fire Department has been working on for a long, long time to get done,” Beattie said. “I’m really proud to hear that they got this taken care of ... it’s a really big deal.”

Meanwhile, organizers thanked city leaders for working hard to help the rally ensure success.

“They [public works] just really make the area look so great,” Anderson said. “They are a hardworking crew out there, as is everyone from public safety and law enforcement.”

The process to bring Laconia Motorcycle Week to fruition is a yearlong affair that involves every city department, significant manpower and a lot of time. 

“It’s been a good year,” Beattie said. “The city departments work year-round to get ready for this. Even though we’ve been doing it for 101 years now, it’s still a lot of work. Our police department, fire, DPW, our licensing department, our planning department. Pretty much every city department, in some way, shape or form is involved in Motorcycle Week.”

Beattie, who is wrapping up his second year of planning for the rally as city manager, said the process will begin all over again as soon as the 101st is completed.

“We’re already making thoughts for what next year is going to bring and how we’re going to address issues, good and bad, for next year,” he said. “We have a lot of work that goes into it and while they’re doing that work they’re still doing their normal daily operations, so the city keeps running.”

Laconia Motorcycle Week Executive Director Charlie St. Clair said he appreciates the strong collaboration between the rally’s organizers and city officials. 

“I just want to remind people that the City of Laconia is on our board of directors and without their support, things like the hill climb on Tower Street wouldn’t happen,” St. Clair said.

He remembers watching Canfield kickstart a vintage motorcycle earlier in the week and said that image represents the heart of the rally.

“That’s the type of stuff that we enjoy here in the City of Laconia,” he said. “I can’t say thank you enough.”

Though he’s been attending and organizing the rally for many years, St. Clair also rides out to take part in other major rallies across the country, including one in Sturgis, South Dakota, and said the culture surrounding motorcycle rallies is unique.

“I have met people here that had lost their house two years before in the Midwest and still scraped it together to get here to the rally,” St. Clair said. “They don’t want to miss these rallies because life is short.”