Cities Must Respond to the Dirt-Bike Crisis

In recent years, big cities have been plagued by roving packs of young men on dirt bikes and ATVs who ignore traffic laws and terrorize the streets. Residents are asking how to fix this problem – but they are asking the wrong question. They need to ask, rather, if controlling the urban disorder of lawless motor bikes, trash-strewn lots, and shoplifting might also be a key to halting the skyrocketing rates of homicides and shootings in American cities.

Anyone who lives in a big city these days has seen the scores of dirt-bike and ATV riders hitting the streets at night. For those who don’t live in the urban centers, YouTube is full of highlight videos of young men performing tricks and ignoring traffic laws in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities. Even small cities like Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Flint, Michigan, are seeing the same phenomenon.