Lawless Dirt Bikes, ATVs Terrorizing UES

For residents of the Upper East Side on First and Second Avenues, this is not news, for they hear the menacing roar at least once or twice every weekend, most often during evening hours and frequently in the middle of the night. The sleep-altering noise is the buzz of as many as 100 illegal dirt bikes and ATVs speeding though red lights, traffic, and pedestrians. They usually visit on Friday, Saturday, or even Sunday nights. One ride recently took place on Monday morning at 2am. For whatever reason, the media has been virtually silent amid this remarkable spectacle, especially in light of all the coverage "Vision Zero" has received of late. A number of neighbors have reached out on Twitter with videos like this one from late Friday night (7/12/19) that shows a dirt biker halting all traffic on First Avenue and intimidating drivers:

From the same night, another Twitter user caught a short video that showed approximately 72 dirt bikes and ATVs cruising up First Avenue around midnight blowing through red lights with absolute disregard:

The 19th Precinct says that they are aware of the situation and have taken measures like having helicopters follow the group until the stop, usually in East Harlem or in the Bronx, and make arrests and/or confiscations at the end of their joy ride. The police argue that to try to give chase to the bikers in the neighborhood would create an even less safe situation. They encourage citizens to call 911 when these bikers are on the streets and to take video to help identify the culprits when they can safely do so. Despite seeing the occasional success story on Twitter, the marauding gangs appear to be growing in size and audacity. Is this our dystopian future where criminal dirt bike gangs are free to rule the night like something out of a Mad Max film? How soon will a pedestrian be killed by one of these punks? Surely, such lawlessness is not indicative of a civilized society, and certainly should not be tolerated! Still, they ride.