Police eager to stop reckless dirt bike riders in their tracks
ILLEGAL trail bike riders are wreaking havoc across the region — with as many as 100 hoons gathering on vacant land — and police are determined to bring them to justice.
The Standard
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ILLEGAL trail bike riders are wreaking havoc across the region and police are determined to bring them to justice.
Vacant land in Erskine Park’s Lenore Drive is a hotspot for riders, with “up to 100 bikes or more” there on the weekend.
“They (offenders) are parking along Lenore Drive with their utes and trailers,” Penrith traffic Sergeant Matt Shirvington said.
“They are taking the bikes off the trailer, warming them up, doing wheelies and God knows whatever else along there.”
At a May traffic committee meeting in Penrith, Sgt Shirvington called on the council to restore fencing on the road, particularly north of Lenore Drive and east of Ropes Creek.
“We need to get those fences fixed ... riders will be discouraged and disinterested in parking there,” he said.
The cross-border patch is covered largely by Penrith and Mt Druitt’s trail bike officers and falls within Blacktown and Penrith council areas. Mt Druitt traffic Sergeant Julie Underwood confirmed trail bike operatives were focusing on the other access point to the vacant land, via Archbold Rd, Minchinbury.
Sgt Underwood said Mt Druitt police had a strong focus on road-related offences and riders endangering residents.
“They are terrible. We’ve had pedestrians knocked over,” Sgt Underwood said.
“The concern is a lot of the people riding the bikes are juveniles, which is a safety concern in itself, not only for members of the public but the young people riding them and baiting police.”
Under the jurisdiction of road rules, riders face unregistered, uninsured and unlicensed offences which carry fines of $650 each. They can also face trespassing charges if they are caught on private land.
Residents are fed up, taking to Facebook groups and making noise complaints.
Erskine Park homeowner and mother of two, Lisa Rosato, sees young dirt bike riders “almost every day”.
Mrs Rosato said they had started intimidating drivers, including her son, who has been learning to drive.
She said two illegal dirt bike riders recently cut off her son on a busy street.
“He stepped on the brakes and they kept turning around and doing stupid things. It discouraged him from driving.”
Blacktown and Penrith Councils have vowed to help stop the riders in their tracks. A Blacktown Council spokesman said trail bikers were “nothing more than mobile vandals”.
“Residents and ratepayers should be angry ... because of the constant cost to councils of having to repair the damage these bike-riding boofheads are doing to council property and the environment,” the spokesman said.
“We encourage anyone with a mobile phone to take a photograph that identifies the riders and pass it on to the police.”
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