Dangerous riding / How should cities handle illegal dirt bikes and ATVs? - Adventure Rider

The problem of illegal dirt bikes on city streets and sidewalks seems to be growing.We’ve already told you about incidents in Albany, New York, Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, CT。Each municipality is trying to deal with the riders in its own way. But one thing is for sure; it’s a difficult task.

Once again, Albany, New York, has made the news for its attempts to stop the dangerous practice of recklessly riding illegal motorcycles and ATVs on the city’s streets. Some places like Albany have policies that direct police not to pursue the offenders. Instead, the plan is for police to apprehend them when they stop at locations like gas stations or their homes.

But in their latest interaction with the illegal dirt bike and ATV riders, it appears that police were at least following, and some say, pursuing some of the riders.

This video shared on social media was shot Friday in#Albany。@albanypolicesay the person on the＃越野车got up, jumped on another bike, and rode away.@hunter_jonathan正在与警察和自行车上的一些人交谈。今晚在NewsChannel 13上收到他们的来信。新利18苹果下载pic.twitter.com/BP8LYMNY9h

— WNYT NewsChannel 13 (@WNYT)2022年3月26日

Scene captured on video

The scene was captured by a different illegal dirt bike rider who filmed himself and the incident while dangerously riding on the city sidewalk. In the video posted to social media, another illegal dirt bike rider to the camera’s left seems to slow down and speed up in front of the police cruiser. A second or two later, the two vehicles collide and the illegal dirt biker falls to the ground. While not captured in the video, reports say the fallen biker quickly got up and fled on a different illegal dirt bike.

对视频做出了反应，纽约州奥尔巴尼警察史蒂夫·史密斯（Steve Smith）引用了Times Unionas saying:

“We are aware of a video taken by an individual who recklessly and illegally operated a dirt bike on a sidewalk during rush hour late Friday afternoon in West Hill, a residential neighborhood in the City of Albany. As with any motor vehicle accident involving an Albany police vehicle, it is currently under investigation. There were no injuries reported during the incident and the individual involved immediately got onto the back of another illegally operated dirt bike and fled the scene.”

Dangers to illegal dirt bike and ATV riders

While some people may praise the police or suggest the collision was necessary to stop the illegal dirt bike riders, others were not so impressed.

One man, Lukee Forbes, said the illegal dirt bikers were wrong for what they were doing, but the police were wrong for pursuing them. The Times Union quotes Forbes as saying:

“Yes, those bikers were 100 percent wrong for what they were doing with those dirt bikes, but that officer knew how he was trained and the different policies created around handling the bikes, and that he was wrong for pursuing them,” Forbes said. “… The actions they’re (police are) taking actually harm the community versus doing what they’re supposed to be doing, which is to keep our community safe.”

Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Alice Green toldWAMC她在视频中看到的东西“震惊”。

“我我看到在视频时,被眼前的景象惊呆和the reports, you know, that’ve been coming into my office at the Center for Law and Justice, of this police officer in chase,” Green said. “And then deliberately running into the back of the bike that he was chasing. And I believe that although the you know, the biker may have been operating a vehicle illegally, the police officer put, I think, put lives in danger when he violated department policy by chasing the suspect, you know, who’s on a vehicle. It put other people’s lives in danger when he did that.”

Danger to the public

但是，如果阻止警察在公共财产上追捕非法越野自行车和ATV，公共安全会发生什么？显然，非法骑自行车的自行车和ATV增加了对公众的危险，尤其是当越野车在人行道上骑行，忽略交通管制和信号时，并且在城市公园等公共土地上鲁ck行动。

2022年3月18日，在犹他州的伊格山（Eagle Mountain）一辆非法骑的越野自行车撞到了人行横道上的行人。袭击时，行人被扔了大约50到60英尺。尽管受害人被空运到医院，但他在途中死亡。目击者的报道说，这位14岁的骑手以高达65英里 /小时的速度行驶。官员们还说，另外两名未成年青少年正在与这名14岁的年轻人一起在同一条道路上骑越野车。