Does Boston have a problem with illegal off-road vehicles?
It’s illegal to drive a dirt bike, ATV, or any other off-road vehicle on public roads — much less do so in a group of dozens of other stunting riders.
But does the chaos that ensued Saturday make them worth pursuing? That’s the quiet debate behind the wild scene that unfolded in Boston over the weekend.
Massachusetts State Police say they attempted to arrest 25 to 35 individuals riding off-road vehicles on I-93 South near Exit 18, after receiving “numerous 911 calls” reporting “erratic, negligent, and reckless” behavior from the group Saturday. Troopers’ attempt to corral the group resulted in one rider getting shot by police and traffic on the freeway becoming backed up for miles, as some riders ditched their bikes and jumped highway lanes in an attempt to escape (many did).
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Police say they arrested seven men — adults in their early-20s to early-30s — and seized approximately 20 motorcycles and ATVs. The dramatic images of the apprehension were widely circulated on social media and even made the Sunday front page of the Boston Herald.
State law places limits on the cylinder capacity and speed of motorized bicycles, and state police spokesman David Procopio says the vehicles seized over the weekend did not meet the federal motor vehicle safety standards.
“They are called off-road vehicles because they can only be used on private property and areas designed for such use,” he told Boston.com in an email, adding that many of the vehicles also did not meet registration, insurance, and inspection requirements.
“Beyond the violations described above, the manner in which that group was operating the vehicles was reckless and jeopardized the safety of other people around them, which is also illegal,” he said.
Procopio said it was “one of the larger, if not the largest, group of riders behaving in this manner that we have seen in recent years,” and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told WBZ on Sunday that it was a “major concern” that this particularly “bold” group went on the highway.
However, some Boston residents say groups of dozens of off-road vehicles is a common occurrence in their neighborhoods and not worth the response it received Saturday.
https://twitter.com/WelcomeToDot/status/967850773639041024
I’m infinitely more worried about duck boats driving out of Dorchester every morning and avoiding Dot Ave by going up Adams Street to Meetinghouse Hill than I am about kids on dirt bikes. THAT is going to kill someone eventually. And of course, they already have.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) February 25, 2018
Adam Myerson, a former pro cyclist and Dorchester resident, says he encounters similarly sized groups of dirt bike and ATV riders roughly once a week and even more frequently in the summer. While he agrees that they can be a dangerous nuisance, Myerson says the response from law enforcement was what caused the crazy scene Saturday.
“I describe it as the scene in any superhero movie where the good guy destroys the city to defeat the bad guy,” he told Boston.com in a phone interview Monday. “That’s what the state police did this weekend.”
In comparison, Myerson says the approach taken by Boston police is a more “appropriate,” long-term solution.
Boston Police Commissioner Williams Evans says the department has been dealing with the issue for three or four years, but that their policy is to not chase illegal dirt bike or ATV riders.
“If we chase them, we’re going to get the kid who’s on them hurt, as well as get someone else hurt,” he said Monday during a monthly appearance on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio.
Evans says he’s seen similar groups of 30 to 40 people riding all around the city, including in Copley Square, often doing wheelies and disregarding traffic lights. However, he said, it mostly centers around Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.
“It scares people, but there’s no good way to round them in,” he said.
Instead, Boston police have conducted stings to “combat the roving gangs of off-road vehicles” and seize the bikes while they’re parked, in order to minimize any escalation.
“It really shouldn’t be a police issue, because you’re going to get confrontations like we got the other day,” he said, adding that it was a “frustrating” issue he hoped could be addressed at the community level. A 2014 study by Boston police found that motorized scooters and mopeds were mentioned in 292 incident reports, including several shootings and robberies, during a seven-month period.
Procopio said state police do have operational plans to intersect groups like the one they encountered over the weekend, but said they do not publicize them.
“We would not discuss or disclose specific tactics for obvious reasons,” he said.
ATV and dirt bike riders cruise illegally on a city street in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Myerson says the dynamic of the group of riders involved in the incident over the weekend was different than kids that typically ride around Dorchester, given that those who were arrested were all adults from outside of Boston. But he compared the Boston dirt bike riders to his own childhood growing up in Brockton skateboarding, which was similarly ostracized as destructive to public property and dangerous to pedestrians.
“We built skate parks for the white kids,” he said. “What are we going to do for the black kids in the neighborhoods on dirt bikes. I don’t have that answer, but I don’t think anything is coming for them. There’s no Boston dirt bike track.”
Myerson’s advice for the alarmed drivers suddenly caught up in a group like the one seen over the weekend? Relax.
“Drive calm for a second until they’re through traffic,” he said. “You let the kids have their space to have their fun — and the only space they have to have fun.”
