Myrtle Beach attorney: Visitors could be harmed if Bikefest safety measures taken away

Myrtle Beach, S.C. (WPDE) — Myrtle Beach city leaders hope to keep the 23-mile traffic loop and all other safety measures despite an injunction filed by the NAACP.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit and a motion for injunction in February citing discrimination against African American tourists during Black Bike Week.

The injunction was to stop the city from enforcing its plans for the 2018 event this coming May, including a 23-mile traffic loop.

The NAACP says “the City seeks to make Black Bike Week sufficiently unpleasant for the mostly African-American motorcyclists, hoping that they stop attending the event and that it ceases to exist.”

However, attorneys for the City of Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Police Department say that isn’t true and that without the safety measures there would be “harm that would likely be visited on all persons in the City during Memorial Day Weekend. Public safety concerns and the public outcry of harm from the conditions that existed before the 2015 traffic control strategies were substantial and widespread after Memorial Day Weekend 2014.”

The city’s attorneys filed a response to the injunction citing multiple reasons why a federal judge should not allow the injunction including that the federal courts shouldn’t be involved in traditional local government functions; that the plans were approved by SCDOT; that without the safety plans in place from the years 2011 to 2014 there were “increasing problems with crime and traffic control;” and that Memorial Day Weekend is not a special event that involves promoters or leaders that are responsible for attendance head counts and crowd behavior.

They also compared response times with and without the traffic loop stating, “a comparison of the Memorial Day Weekend 2014 without a traffic loop and Memorial Day Weekend 2017 with a traffic loop shows the average Myrtle Beach police response times were reduced from 5.53 minutes in 2014 to 3.04 minutes in 2017.”

The response also outlines multiple other occasions and events where roads are closed or routes are changed for special events including the marathon, the Carolina Country Music Fest and for the Martin Luther King Jr. parade.

Until a decision is made by a judge, Myrtle Beach Police spokesperson Lt. Joey Crosby told ABC 15 that they will continue with all safety plans.

The safety plan will look similar to last year with the one-way traffic on Ocean Boulevard, the 23-mile traffic loop overnight from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and additional police on the streets.