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MURRAY — Patrolling Utah’s freeways on a motorcycle is never an easy job and the challenge of the duty is magnified when temperatures soar.
“It burns you out pretty fast,” trooper Steve Myer said Wednesday as he stood next to his motorcycle outside Utah Highway Patrol’s Murray office. “If you’re not drinking a lot of water, just like anyone else, you’re going to dehydrate, you’re going to have heat exhaustion, heat stroke.”
On a day when the National Weather Service reported a record 105-degree temperature for the date at Salt Lake City International Airport, Myer said he observed temperatures as high as 109 on his gauge.
“You add 105 degrees to (the job), it just makes it worse,” he said. “Everything’s hot. The road surface gets slicker because of the tar that’s on the roads. The lines get slick. You’ve got to be really cautious on your turns and those types of things.”
Extra layers of padding and bulletproof vests only make the job that much hotter, and Myer said winds felt while riding his motorcycle simply intensify the heat.
Other troopers have equated the experience to being inside a convection oven.
“You lose 5 to 7 pounds in a working shift,” Myer said.
Despite the toll the heat takes, Myer said troopers manage to stay hydrated and focused — something that’s extremely important at all times on the job.
“Riding a bike, you can’t just let your guard down,” he said. “You’re 100 percent focused all of the time watching traffic.”
Myer encouraged others to drink plenty of water while the weather remains hot, and he said he would still choose to ride a motorcycle over driving a cruiser.
“I love being on it — it’s a great job, nothing better,” Myer said. “I’ve been doing it for over 30 years, (and) wouldn’t do anything else.”
