Make streets safe from ATVs and dirt bikes

The video of hundreds of off-road vehicles tearing through Hauppauge on Route 347 on Saturday is frightening. They performed wheelies and tricks as they illegally sped down the busy road, blocking traffic for hours and creating a dangerous scene.

"They really are a menace on the road," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told Newsday’s editorial board.

"Bike life," as it has become known, is a familiar hazard across Long Island communities, one that has risen in popularity across the country, thanks in part to the accelerant of social media fueled by movies, music and video games.

Bottom line — it must be stopped.

There are two main issues facing Long Island’s bike life culture: the immediate public safety threat and the larger societal issue of what is causing this behavior. Law enforcement and lawmakers must work collaboratively to address both and protect our streets.

Policing those who are driving ATVs and dirt bikes on the streets" is difficult. The off-road vehicles can simply veer into woods or cut across lawns to avoid pursuit. And they don’t have license plates, so traditional methods of vehicle identification like license plate readers don’t work. Most vehicles aren’t insured or registered, and operators don’t need a driver’s license to use them in New York State.

Traditional street takeovers, which Suffolk has done such a good job combating, are slightly different. In street takeovers, meetups are posted on social media attracting dozens of souped-up motor vehicles and hundreds of spectators. The county created a task force and redoubled enforcement that led to 13,000 summonses being issued and 122 events broken up since November 2024.

But bike life presents a separate challenge, and municipalities like Cleveland, Philadelphia and Newark have been getting creative in their attempts to curtail the illegal behavior. Those initiatives include making it illegal to sell gas to ATV or dirt bike riders, confiscating and destroying the vehicles, and even building facilities to legally ride.

Unlike graffiti or skateboarding, though, bike life is dangerous. Legal walls helped curtail rampant graffiti and skateparks gave teens an outlet, but skateboards don’t travel at 50 mph, and graffiti doesn’t shut down a street.

Hundreds of off-road vehicles operating illegally on roads present an immediate danger, for law-abiding motorists, pedestrians and the disruptive riders themselves. It’s more than a quality-of-life concern about loud motors. They drive through stop signs, weave between cars and hop on sidewalks. Occasionally, weapons or drugs are involved.

The societal causation may require longitudinal solutions. The immediate problem, though, requires expanded use of technology such as drones, while tracking social media and relying on good, old-fashioned police work, Catalina said.

"Even though they’re not concerned with their lives or the lives of others, we have to be and we are," Catalina said. "We want to do it smart. It’s a delicate, fine line. We’re going to ... do everything in our power to stop it safely."

Our streets need to be safe. Then, lawmakers and social workers can work on long-range solutions.