Wednesday's crash involving a dirt bike -- in which a passenger then assaulted the driver of a car the dirt bike hit after going through a red light -- has sparked complaints from across the city. It was the second dirt bike crash in a week. Earlier, a motorcyclist was killed when he hit a pole after swerving to a avoid a dirt bike whose driver was carrying a child.
In the picture from The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum, Dale Truelock of Cherry Hill Towing rolls the dirtbike damaged in the accident from place where police found it had been hidden after the accident.
There's a video documentary on Baltimore dirt bike riders on YouTube called Wildout Wheelie Boyz.
The out-of-control antics of the dirt bike packs have police stymied once againt. They're forbidden from chasing them because it's too dangerous, and thus the riders have turned some city streets into zones of anarchy.
At a town hall forum sponsored by the City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, a group of dirt bike riders actually said it's better for them to be out running the streets -- even though the dirt bikes aren't registered and are illegal -- than to have them standing on street corners getting into trouble.
Here is another perspective from resident Bryan Canary, who sent this e-mail to me:
For more of his email:
If the BPD really wanted to put a dent in this this issue, all they would need to do would be to sit right in front of Pickles Pub at ~7pm on sunday night with a big net, and they could catch 20-30 of them at one time...the guys would make that curve around Camden Yards and never see what was coming....Furthermore, it's no secret that they start out about 10-20 minutes before 7pm gathering together in the streets of West Port (and they come into town by the big trash incineration facility).......if you've never gone there to see them rally together, you should...it's a rather...uhh...unnerving experience.....
It really wouldn't be that difficult to put a dent into that weekly event...I mean really.....these guys are as consistent as the sun rise. Some tack strips across the road when the roar of motors is heard could really work wonders.....and it would be appropriate given the public risk these guys create each and every week.
Bryan Canary
Resident who's tired of thinking he lives in the hills of west Virginia at 7pm every Sunday night