City vows crackdown on motorized dirt bikes, including effort to get them banned altogether

This is unclear. Are they only banning ILLEGAL ones, as in, ones that don't conform to what a motorized bicycle ought to be, or are they going to ban any motorized bicycle?

There is no reason whatsoever to ban scooters that are being used appropriately.

As I said in another post, how about if they just enforce existing laws regarding these things? The people who are terrorizing neighborhoods with them are doing exactly that; weaving in and out of traffic, speeding, riding on sidewalks, running stop lights, etc. They also hardly ever wear helmets, so could be stopped based on this and asked for ID then checked for warrants etc.

I understand from what I heard this morning, the shooter actually fled on foot. I know, let's outlaw feet!

Really, this is just stupid. Cars are also used by criminals to "terrorize" neighborhoods, are they next? No, of course not. The problem isn't the vehicle, it is the behavior. This call for a ban is just political window dressing.

I see ads for four scooters on the right column of this page.

It would be helpful if the cops ever did something about it- that's the real problem. I'm sure some people don't ride them in a way as disturb the general public, but I have yet to see it. Instead I see kids poppin' wheelies in Franklin Park, revving their engines and being generally obnoxious. I've even see a group of them circling a traffic island/barrier close to Dudley while regular traffic was trying to get through. There was a cop car right behind me- I thought- oh good, maybe he'll do something about this stupidity. Nope. Kept going right past the idiots.

Talk about knee jerk reaction. What about crimes that happen from gangsters walking around? I demand a walking ban. No driving either, that just makes drive-by shootings more likely. Ya'know what- no one is allowed outside. No one. Bad things happen outside. Stay inside and watch Little House on the Prairie all day.

Maybe it would be much more simple to just make shooting someone illeg- oh wait.

It's much easier just to make new laws that won't be enforced.

is that when there are no shootings and the police crack down on illegal bikes or other minor nuisance crimes that are only comitted by a certain group (young black males), racial profiling complaints go up, Captains get calls from city counsul offices to focus on more important crimes, and police in general are forced to ignore them.

But I do know there are several traffic/comm service units who have been in charge of reigning these bikes in over the past few years. I have not seen the numbers from this unit, but I know its there.

Considering loud scooters, dirty bikes, etc. have been used to terrorize Dorchester, JP and probably every other neighborhood for at least 10 years that I can account for, charging out with a law now seems a little late. I understand the blanket ban however; the complaint of BPD is that they can not arrest the mini-thugs on the maxi-noise bikes because noise laws are hard to enforce, catching the prepubescent detroyers of worlds while they are scooting around would require setting up road blocks, etc.

Banning the bikes would be the simplest method. Prevent the problem rather than chasing after each infraction. Draconian? Yes. Is there a better solution that does not result in cops chasing after loud babycycles? If there is let's use it.

Then apply that solution to the motorcycles, boom boom and hippty-hop cars which pollute neighborhoods with noise.

I asked them to clarify just what vehicles they were intending to ban with the home rule petition and this is the relevant portion of their response:

We are focusing on motorized minibikes, dirt bikes and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) that do not belong on City streets and have been creating serious problems in neighborhoods – not motorcycles or motorized scooters (like Vespas).

We are mainly focused on cracking down on those three categories and we are working with all parties (BPD, BTD, RMV, etc.) to target precisely the nuisance vehicles and those who are using them illegally. The strategy is to approach this using a surgeon’s knife, not a sledgehammer.

In terms of “illegal,” dirt bikes are not inherently illegal if they’re used in accordance with the law, but certain elements of their use and operation can be illegal.

They continued by highlighting the improper use as being anything outside of the rules they wrote in the press release (over 25 mph, without a helmet, etc).

They also elaborated on their example of the DC ban as an example of what they would like to implement here. The DC ban outlaws dirtbikes and ATVs while allowing motorized bicycles, Segways (ironic?), and scooters.

some of the same people I see wanting to ban firearms think that banning scooters is unjust because it's a "behavior" or "social" problem with the scooters(but somehow not with firearms.)

UHub, I love you.

First they came for the Segways
And I didnt say anything because I didnt own a Segway
Then they came for the motorized bikes
And I didnt say anything because I didnt own a motorized bike
....