Augusta Police Department to Change Practices Based on NTSB Recommendations

The Augusta Police Department says it’s going to follow “best practices” outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board in a report on a 2017 pileup during the United Bikers of Maine Toy Run.

The report said an unsafe maneuver by a motorcycle rider triggered the chain-reaction crash on Interstate 95 in Augusta. But it also said the police department and United Bikers failed to mitigate the risks of 3,000 motorcycles entering I-95 without “supplemental traffic control or state police oversight.”

Two motorcycle riders were killed and seven people hurt in the pileup in September 2017.

Augusta Police Chief Jared Mills said in a statement that the department will work on revising its procedures for handling such events in the future.