Nearly 2,000 tickets issued during Daytona Beach truck meet weekend
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Law enforcement in Daytona Beach were once again busy, but reported improvements during the 2019 Truck Meet.
The Daytona Beach Police issued 1,855 citations during the four days of the event along with 58 misdemeanor charges and 9 felony charges.
Volusia County Beach Patrol issued around 100 tickets as well.
"Thousands of trucks on the beach - we had multiple violations, traffic infractions, county ordinance violations,” said Beach Patrol Captain Tammy Malphurs.
Beach Patrol was still dealing with the fallout of the truck crowd on Monday as many deep divots and tracks remained in the sand from large trucks. Malphurs said the storms on Sunday helped fix the damage, but they’d still likely be dealing with soft sand for a few more days.
The big truck event has had a rocky history in Daytona Beach after quickly growing from an internet event to being dubbed as ‘the world’s largest truck meetup.’ For the past two years local officials have reported numerous complaints about noise, mischief, and traffic problems caused by the large crowd of supped up trucks.
This year seemed to be an improvement though.
According to Daytona Beach Police the number of tickets issued actually dropped slightly from 2018-2019 and noise complaints to the agency decreased as well. Police shut down many of the local roads on the beachside over the weekend to create a buffer between residents and the truck crowd.
Police said extra patrols also helped lower traffic disruptions along A1A and concentration of the weekend’s events at the International Speedway seemed to improve the beachside situation as well.
Social media on Monday seemed to show a better year for the event’s relationship with the community as well. Many truck fans and event attendees praised the weekend and the event in general.
Weekend social media posts locally regarding the event continued to draw complaints from some neighbors though.
There was no response from city officials Monday as to their take on the 2019 event or considerations for the future of the event in town.