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Mark Hinchliffe·
NewsMotorbike news
··9 Comments·2 min read

Unlicensed trail bike riders copped

Unlicensed and unregistered trail bike riders nabbed by police

Unlicensed trail bike riders have been caught by NSW Police for a variety of offences in a move we applaud and believe many other riders also should support.

Unlicensed riders on unregistered motorcycles, often wearing inappropriate gear and performing dangerous and illegal stunts, give the rest of us law-abiding riders a bad name.

Trail bike operation

Lake Macquarie Police District targeted the illegal use of unregistered trail bikes in an operation yesterday (Wednesday 19 February 2020), focusing on the areas of Windale, Glendale and Cameron Park.

During the operation, a rider was seen travelling on Main Road, Cameron Park before the 28-year-old man was arrested on Nancy Close about 3pm.

He was taken to Toronto Police Station and charged with drive recklessly/furiously or speed/manner dangerous, display misleading plates, use unregistered and uninsured vehicle, possess prohibited drugs and drive whilst disqualified.

The Teralba man has been refused bail to appear at Toronto Local Court today.

A second rider, a 33-year-old man, was arrested about 4.20pm after being seen travelling from Windale to Dudley.

Unlicensed and unregistered trail bike riders nabbed by police
An unlicensed and unregistered trail bike rider nabbed by police

He was taken to Belmont Police Station and charged with drive recklessly/furiously or speed/manner dangerous, use unregistered and uninsured vehicle, rider not wear helmet, unlicensed rider and trespass.

The Gateshead man has been granted conditional bail to appear at Belmont Local Court on Monday 24 February 2020

During the operation, police also issued three infringements for negligent driving, two youth cautions for riding unregistered bikes and seized four unregistered trail bikes.

Lake Macquarie Police District Commander Superintendent Daniel Sullivan said police will continue to detect and deter illegal trail bike offences throughout the Lake Macquarie area through these operations.

“The behaviour of trail bike riders is a major concern for police. Their reckless behaviour not only places their lives at risk but more importantly, those of innocent people,” he says.

“When riders are detected breaking the law, police will take appropriate action by issuing infringements, charges, suspending licences and seizing bikes.”

Comment

Dirt bike
MBW enjoys the occasional legal “dirt squirt”

We applaud the crackdown on unlicensed trail bike riders on unregistered bikes, even if it means some legitimate riders may be held up by police for licence checks.

Unlicensed and unregistered riders not only give us a bad name, but they tend to crash and die and distort the road toll statistics which authorities use to further harass riders.

While there are many legitimate trail and adventure riders and we also enjoy getting off the main roads and on to forestry trails, there are trail bike riders who also do the wrong thing.

See also

Among their sins are riding off designated trails, trespassing, riding through paddocks, alarming livestock, causing erosion and not closing farm gates behind them.

It is getting so bad that some states are now considering banning people from riding bikes on their own land within 500m of a neighbour because of the noise.

Electric trail bikes should help resolve that issue.

We would also like to see more motocross parks opened, rather than being closed down so these young kids have somewhere legal to ride.

It will also assist with preventing juvenile crime issues such as break-ins and graffiti.

Meanwhile, there are still many legitimate forestry tails for registered trail and adventure bikes and 4WDs.

We found these websites for various states: Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and  Western Australia.

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Mark Hinchliffe
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9 Comments

  1. I support the police in “cracking down” on unregistered bikes & unlicenced riders, as they seem to be the ones who ride noisy bikes & annoy surburban residents so that non-riders start to display a hate for all motorcyclists, even though most licenced riders never do anything to deserve this hate. Another thing is that if you happen to have a accident with one of these “hoons” you are going to be traumatised & out of pocket if they hit your vehicle.
    However I also think that push-bike riders should also be licenced & have to pay some sort of registration to use our road system. If we as motorcyclists have to pay in addition to our car licences & registration why shouldn’t push-bike riders?

      1. And what do you think registration for cyclists will achieve IanJH, actually do you even know that registration does not contribute to roads and that in every jurisdiction of Australia, the rego system is a loss making exercise? So you want to further burden society with more losses on a system so what? The one cyclist who actually kills someone every 10 years or so is identifiable? I think there are more pressing issues out there than satisfying a silly need need because people think the cyclists are getting a free ride, We all pay for roads through taxes, levies, rates and any other number of government imposts, so yes the cyclists are already paying for their absolute right to ride on the road, just as pedestrians don’t pay rego for footpaths, or is that next on your list?

        1. If you operate a motor vehicle on the road you should be required to have insurance, at least to cover other peoples losses that may occur from your negligence, and I doubt you will be able to buy insurance if you are not licensed to operate that vehicle or registered. The license bears testament to the fact that you have demonstrated at least a minimum level of competency and the registration demonstrates that the vehicle has meet at least a minimum standard of mechanical soundness. If guardians allow young people to operate machinery illegally those guardians should be responsible for any loss incurred by their behavior.

          1. Well Sean
            I pay a lot of rego money each year and the govt seems to get quite hysterical if they don’t get it
            If it is a loss making system then why do they persist with it?

  2. While I’m not one for the nanny state all bikes or anything that can find itself out in the road should have some form of registration. When I was a kid I often rode many miles from home and I doubt I had any form of ID on me at the time had I been in an accident my parents would not have known until they contacted the police looking for me.
    There should be two classes of registration for non powered bikes , kids and recreational where a registration number is issued and contact details recorded and the option of insurance. The other class would be for competition, commuters and professionals which will have CTP insurance etc.
    As for the dickheads who ride unregistered unlicensed and uninsured if they’re making a nuisance of themselves they deserve to be got.

  4. First they came for the communists
    And i did not speak out
    Because i was not a communist.

    Then they came for the socialist
    And i did not speak out
    Because i was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the jews
    And i did not speak out
    Because i was not a jew

    Then they came for me
    And there was no one left
    to speak out for me.

  5. Not going to waste mine and everyone else’s time mansplaining the basics of civis and why we have government services. If you don’t already know the answer to that, then I wonder how you go about the daily activities of life. So you pay a lot of rego, do you pay of lot of tax, rates, GST, blah blah blah, boo effin hoo. Cry me a river.

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