Troopers in both states will conduct their own intensive enforcement efforts at other times during the season.

THP Sgt. Danny Thomas, who oversees highway patrol activities in Blount and Monroe counties, said the enforcement activities are all focused on safety.

``We welcome everyone who visits the Dragon and the areas around it, as long as they obey the law,'' Thomas said. ``We're doing intensive enforcement in an effort to make the roadways safe for everyone on two, four or even 18 wheels.''

The Dragon sports 318 curves on an 11.1-mile stretch of U.S. 129, running from Deal's Gap at the North Carolina line to Tabcat Bridge alongside Chilhowee Lake -- a 1,085-foot change in elevation. It is one of the nation's favorite rides for motorcycles and sports cars. The run has been touted in several national magazines as well as on several Internet sites. The often heavy traffic on the narrow highway includes riders and drivers from across the country, some from other continents.

Unfortunately, the festive atmosphere is too often clouded by accidents, some of them fatal.

In 2005, there were three deaths on the Dragon -- all of them motorcyclists. Thomas said that in 2005 troopers investigated 47 accidents on the Dragon, 41 of them involving motorcycles. He said the number of accidents on the Dragon was down from 57 investigated by THP in 2004 -- 51 of those involved motorcycles and two were fatalities.

So far in 2006, Tennessee troopers have investigated only nine wrecks on the Dragon. Eight were motorcycle accidents. However, troopers have responded to reports of accidents on the Dragon 27 times in 2006. Eighteen times so far this year, the troopers and often Rural/Metro Ambulance Service have rushed to the area only to find a motorcyclist's friends have picked up the rider and bike and the reported accident has vanished.

``It's hard to estimate the manpower and expense involved in responding to these disappearing accidents,'' Thomas said.

Statistics were not available regarding the number of accidents in North Carolina related to the area near the Dragon. However, the five counties in Western North Carolina in the area near the Dragon have had a 56 percent increase in motorcycle accidents from 2004.

North Carolina troopers will be assigned to the Deals Gap area near the top of the Dragon and to the Cherohala Skyway, where some say the probability of motorcycle accidents is even greater than on the Dragon. The Cherohala Skyway linking Robbinsville, N.C., to Tellico Plains includes 15 miles in North Carolina and 21 in Tennessee.

Tennessee troopers will focus on the Dragon, but others will be active on the Tennessee end of the Cherohala.

Marked and unmarked cars, motorcycles and aircraft will be used on both sides of the state line in the effort to curb accidents and, according to Thomas, ``improve driving habits.''

``We're not anti-motorcycle. I've got one of my own and take it up and over the Cherohala into Tellico Plains whenever I get a chance. That's a really beautiful ride.

``But, I can't enjoy it as much as I'd like when I have somebody on a sports bike or sports car zipping around me on a curve and making me think I'm going to find them smashed up around the next curve.

``Speeding and reckless driving are what we're trying to stop,'' Thomas said. ``That way, everybody can enjoy themselves without getting hurt."

Ride Often - Ride Safe - Ride FREE