Mayor Walsh wants to crack down on misbehaving scooter and ATV drivers, who he says have created "a notorious atmosphere of criminal and other disturbing activity so elevated as to endanger the common good and general welfare of the city."
His solution: An ordinance that would not only prohibit scooter and ATV drivers from doing the sort of stuff they like to do but would prohibit people from storing more than one unlicensed motorbike or ATV unless they have a particular garage license. Plus, all motorbikes, scooters and ATVs would have to be registered with the RMV.
On Wednesday, the City Council will consider the mayor's proposed ban on "trick or stunt riding" on city streets - and on land, such as fields at Franklin Park, whose owners have not given permission for the activity.
In recent months, police have seized a number of scooters and ATVs. Police, however, have tended to leave stunting riders actually zooming around local streets alone.
Walsh's proposed ordinance would give police the power to go after these rascals, with fines of up to $300 per incident:
An operator of any motorized conveyance, including a recreational vehicle, shall not cause such vehicle to ride with its front wheel or wheels raise [sic] from the surface of the road or ground while operated in any public space.
The proposed ordinance would also ban similar behavior involving rear wheels or, in the case of ATVs, side wheels.
Also banned: "Feet or knees planted on the seat while operating in any public space," giving rides to people on single-person bikes and passengers sitting or riding on the handle bars.
The ordinance gives police permission to go on private property to seize bikes or otherwise enforce the law.
The City Council's regularly scheduled meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers in City Hall. The council typically sends proposed ordinances to a committee for study before voting on them.
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Comments
Sounds good!
By anon
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:06pm
And also sounds like it's well constructed as to not harass the law-abiding motorcycling/scooting community, as well.
"Modified" enforcement?
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 6:48am
While he's at it, the Mayor should get the Boston Police Department to enforce the ban against modified mufflers on motorcycles. The noise pollution from modified mufflers is one of the worst aspects of summer in the city. BPD knows who has them but fails to enforce the law.
Modified Mufflers
By George Sheran
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 11:09am
Loud pipes saves lives. No bike motorcycle/scooter could match a two ton + vehicle.
The get a bull horn cause that excuse is BULL.
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 1:35pm
Loud pipes are solely for the pleasure of letting everyone else know the biker is is riding through. If loud pipes were intrinsic to the safety of motorcyclists then they should push for requiring loud pipes as a safety feature. The same would apply to bicycles as well.
Or just don't ride a motorcycle where it is dangerous to ride the motorcycle.
But don't think that folks are naive enough to believe the BS that justifies terrorizing neighborhoods with horrible noise.
Loud exhaust often reduces power loss
By Markk02474
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 6:36pm
but not always, if a system is not designed well.
With a 50cc weed whacker class engine, every little bit can help. On liter class bikes with much horsepower, the need doesn't exist.
Loud pipes are too loud, sorry
By lbb
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 1:49pm
If you don't feel you can ride safely without "loud pipes", you shouldn't be riding. Remember that your "loud pipes" do more than simply alert other road users of your presence; they also create a noisy nuisance for non-road users who happen to be nearby. My town gets way too many of them in the summer, and I'm sick and tired of "loud pipes" rolling down Main Street, blasting ear-shattering noise off the buildings so that no one can even hold a conversation. Whatever your perceived need, you don't have the right to infringe on others.
Oh God, I've had this happen
By Newbury
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:27am
Oh God, I've had this happen any time I've been on Newbury Street walking around on the weekend (which isn't often). The bike guys come and REV REV REV because HEY LOOK AT US! No one likes you.
Loud pipes do NOT save lives
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 2:49pm
Google the "Doppler effect." Cliff's notes version: Noise coming from a moving vehicle is loudest and most heard from behind the vehicle, and is barely heard in front of it.
Therefore, loud pipes do not save lives. Loud pipes announce "I drove past this spot already."
Wrong. The doppler effect
By anon
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 7:28am
Wrong. The doppler effect simply alters the frequency at which the noise is heard. Volume (dB) is determined by proximity to the source.
Loud Pipes Are For Loud Egos
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 2:57pm
Motorcycle enthusiasts aren't trying to protect themselves when they ROAR modified mufflers on empty late night streets. It's all about testosterone. Boston banned modified mufflers to reduce unnecessary noise pollution. If the BPD is going after kids on scooters, they should do the same toward grown men on motorcycles who should know better enough to respect their neighbors.
That's what horns are for.
By Neal
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 5:56pm
Like most registered vehicles on the road, motorcycles have horns. The driver can sound their motorcycle's horn to make themselves heard if the need arises. They have the added benefit of projecting sound forward (see the aforementioned doppler effect post as to why its beneficial for sound to be projected forward).
If you live in the city don't
By anon
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 9:35am
If you live in the city don't ever use the term "noise pollution."
Nah, sorry, look - I live on
By anon
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 11:31am
Nah, sorry, look - I live on a cross-street emergency route between a couple of neighborhoods. There are only two things that I can't hear the television over when the windows are open - an emergency vehicle with full lights and siren, and on of the goddamn scooters or dirtbikes from up the street.
When your unregistered vehicle can compete with a full-on fire truck, you're making too much goddamn noise. And also then can't hear me shouting "sorry about your penis!" out the window after you.
sounds like these people are
By bractune
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 6:22pm
sounds like these people are law-abiding, which is what he's trying to change.
They are not.
By Sally
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 11:26pm
He's just throwing a wider net.
First no Olympics and now this?
By yar!
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:11pm
Marty's on a roll!
License for scooter?
By Rozey
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:28pm
A licensed scooter means it has to be parked in CAR parking areas, and not allowed to park on sidewalks as scooters now do. So, thanks Marty, you will be clogging up car metered spaces with an abundance of pissed off scooter owners. Most scooter riders don't engage in dangerous tricks and for many it's the only affordable transportation. The thugs riding scooters dangerously won't even bother to get it licensed anyway.
You can get a sticker
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 10:01pm
In fact, you are supposed to if it is under 50cc.
Over 50cc? Get a plate. That's the law.
Some wise individual once said:
By anon
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:19pm
The Law is an Ass.
Not detailed enough response
By Kaz
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 10:08am
There is a few criteria for the difference between a "motorized bicycle" (requires a sticker, allowed to use bike lanes, etc.) and a "limited use vehicle (LUV)" (requires plates, insurance, not allowed in bike lanes, can't go on highways, etc.).
The engine size is only one of them. 50cc+ is guaranteed LUV or motorcycle. 49cc *may* be a motorized bicycle.
The top speed is the other big one. Even if your scooter is under 50cc, if its available top speed is above 35 mph (as defined by the manufacturer) then it is an LUV. If it is set above 40 mph, it's a motorcycle regardless of engine size.
http://www.massrmv.com/Portals/30/docs/Limited_use...
So its ok to take up room on
By Kinopio
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:10am
So its ok to take up room on sidewalks but car drivers precious space must never be infringed upon? Do people have to install motors to their backs to finally get treated as well as cars do?
The problem isn't space
By Kaz
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 10:01am
It's the waste of it. If parking on the street is required, then every scooter marked as an LUV with LUV plates has to park at a meter. And the city regulations say that all vehicles parked on the curb have to park parallel to it and one per space. So, say a 50cc scooter owner parks at a meter in a busy section of town. And a car drives up and thinks it can park there because it's just a dumb scooter. They might wedge the scooter into the curb by parking beside it. They might pick the scooter up and dump it on the sidewalk and park in the space (scooters are not very heavy). They might miss seeing it completely and just back into it. And finally, they might go park somewhere else but come back just to damage the scooter for "wasting their time".
Also, a 50cc scooter has a footprint of about 2 bicycles. So, it's not like there's much infringement given that you seem to be okay with bikes parked on sidewalks.
Scooter meters?
By JCK
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 1:38pm
San Francisco has 'em.
Boston vs. San Francisco
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 3:01pm
A problem with Boston vs. San Francisco is that, despite the fact that San Francisco's crime rate is at least double that of Boston's, Boston has a serious problem with scooter and motorcycle vandalism and theft that San Francisco just seems to not have.
I've known motorcycle/scooterists in SF who won't hesitate to street-park their motorcycle/scooter in San Francisco's worst neighborhoods, because they know they'll come back to their motorcycle/scooter upright, untouched, and in the same spot they left it. None of the motorcyclists/scooterists in San Francisco I know have ever mentioned anyone touching their bike, even in iffy neighborhoods like the Soma/Tenderloin intersection and the iffy part of the Mission.
Meanwhile, the motorcyclists/scooterists in Boston I know have had multiple attempts at vandalism/theft while parked in residential or otherwise safe neighborhoods, on private property, and as a result, many of them will not park where they cannot tie the motorcycle/scooter to a stable anchor with heavy, alarmed chains.
If the two-wheeled vehicle parking spots have anchors for chains, then that will be really helpful and I'm sure they'd get a lot of use. However, it's ridiculous to assume that someone is going to leave a vehicle worth several thousand dollars unsecured in a spot where it's likely to be deliberately smashed or stolen.
I do have a hunch that cracking down on these illegal pods of vehicles will probably also reduce the market for stolen motorcycles/scooters, but until then, people will be parking next to fences, poles, and other secure structures to chain up safely.
Nope
By Kaz
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:56am
Years back when the RMV came out with the new LUV (limited use vehicle) rules/regulations, there was a huge dust-up in all of the surrounding cities regarding this problem. If the vehicle is *plated* then it has to park on the street by regulation. Cambridge said it wouldn't enforce that at all and scooters could continue to park like bicycles. Somerville said the same and I think Brookline claimed they never allowed it (but I've never seen them ticket/tow for it either).
However, at the time in Boston, the mayor stayed quiet initially. So, LUV owners started parking around the Common before the morning rush using one space per scooter legally parked at the meters that everyone uses as a protest. Menino got his BTD head to announce that LUVs under 50cc would be allowed to continue parking on the sidewalks and that they would start testing head-in scooter/motorcycle parking spaces around Back Bay amid the parallel parked cars. That's stayed in effect to today.
So, your fear is unfounded.
A licensed scooter means it
By roadman
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 12:11pm
FIFY
Next illegallity
By anon
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:31pm
No chewing tobacco while riding motorized bikes.
Doing wheelies stops being
By Kinopio
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:33pm
Doing wheelies stops being cool once you hit your 10th birthday. Hopefully this works because these inconsiderate losers are ruining parks and putting people in danger.
Wheelies
By merlinmurph
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:20am
Bucket list item: Someday, I want to be able to hold a wheelie on my bike, and I'm way past my 10th birthday. ;-)
Yeah, I know, not what you meant, but still.....
Story Time!
By Jeffery
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:39pm
My Grandfather smoked his whole life. I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, 'If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately.'. Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake. He gave it up immediately. Three years later he died of lung cancer. It was really sad and destroyed me. My mother said to me- 'Don't ever smoke. Please don't put your family through what your Grandfather put us through." I agreed. At 28, I have never touched a cigarette. I must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having done it, because the video in this post gave me cancer anyway.
Haha!
By MostlyHarmless
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:38pm
I have never ever been on the internet before. This is hilarious and certainly not old as balls.
Wait, what?
By derrick
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:52pm
So you're plan is to take something that is already illegal, and make it illegal? Am I missing something here?
No
By Anon
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:19pm
Take something that's already illegal and start cracking down instead of letting it slide.
Weed Whacker's on wheels
By runnergirl
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:55pm
I had a close encounter with one of these scooters, or weed whacker on wheels, today going very fast the wrong way down my one way street. I live in Roxbury and you can hear them all day and night. It's reckless and I'm surprised more people aren't injured.
Electric assist bicycles, too?
By BikeWithKids
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 9:58pm
If so, then once I'm registered, no complaining when my kids and I take the lane for every trip at 10 mph.
What are you talking about?
By lbb
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:58am
If you're a vehicle that's street legal, you can take the lane, whether you're going 10 mph and you've got your kids or your grandkids or your pet chihuahua or whatever. What are you going on about?
Some motorists cry constantly
By BikeWithKids
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 12:20pm
that bikes should be registered to ride on streets. Usually, we share the road lane, if it's wide enough. If registration is required, I'll not share the width.
Good. I'm sick of this crap
By anon
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 10:04pm
Weaving in and out of traffic, blocking traffic, sometimes in both directions, on Dot Ave.
Popping wheelies, 3 guys completely blocking southbound traffic in all lanes on Morrissey Blvd
Speeding up and down my usually quiet side street.
For some reason this behavior has increased exponentially this summer.
Good luck catching them though.
Community Support for a Crackdown?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 10:07pm
I'm betting that there is, given the number of "shops" that have been ratted out by neighbors.
My guess is that the city waited for the people most affected to get fed up enough to ask.
"Ratted out?" Didn't know
By Bellvue Hill Bully
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 8:47am
"Ratted out?" Didn't know you were down with the stop snitchin culture SwirlyGrrl. So gangsta.
I've seen the motor bikes
By SteveM
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 10:13pm
I've seen the motor bikes around, but yesterday was the first time I saw the herd of wheelie popping ATVs. That was a bit much. This is a recent thing though. Where did they all come from? I don't recall seeing any motor bikes or ATVs in the streets prior to this year.
Also, I'm not so sure about the every scooter and motorbike being registered law, though maybe it's helpful. It is fairly common for people (especially in other countries) to ride Vespas and the like. Currently they can't park on the sidewalk because they're a "vehicle" and can't park in the street because they aren't registered, but they're too small to register. Where are they supposed to park?
A few years ago, monkey bikes
By bibliotequetress
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:53am
A few years ago, monkey bikes were all over Allston and Dot. Then 3 wheelers popped up. Now ATVs, because clearly a vehicle designed to be used off road or on unpaved tracks belongs on Washington Street.
I live with a shade tree mechanic who eyes these things wistfully whenever some new method of disintegrating your skull comes on the street, so I may be particularly aware. His center of gravity is no longer what it was when he was 17 and riding stuff like this himself. If he seems in danger of forgetting that, then I remind him.
Not that recent
By friolator
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:55am
I live in JP and I've seen the ATVs riding up and down the southwest corridor park bike paths, blowing through stop signs at intersections and playing chicken with cars, for 5-6 years at least. The Washington St area and side streets around English High are full of them.
The mobs of helmetless (also illegal) wheelie-pulling scooter riders: The only place I've ever seen them is on Washington St near the E-13 police station and on Blue Hill Ave near the B-3 department. Seriously - right in front of the freaking police stations, as if they're taunting them. Why not just enforce the existing laws instead of ignoring an obvious problem that's been going on for years?
At least the obsession with 6" high mini-bikes from a few years ago seems to have subsided.
Where to park?
By Felicity
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 10:29am
-bike lanes
-curb cuts
-bus stops
-cross walks
All of those are are fair game.
Really summer is almost over
By tiffo
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 10:41pm
Spend taxpayers money on things that matter Mayor Walsh.
There will be a summer next year
By Waquiot
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:35pm
And probably the year after that.
Meanwhile, the residents of the City of Boston are sick and tired of the lawlessness.
motor scooters
By Christine Poff
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:25pm
These motor bikes have been terrorizing Franklin Park for nearly a decade. Zooming through a Little League game, around the basketball courts, over the fields and along dirt paths in the woods. Sometimes there are as many as ten in a group - the noise is overwhelming, the speed is frightening. They are not teenagers, but grown men. Please, please Mayor Walsh, get them out of Franklin Park and the bordering streets.
A recent thing?
By Jarred
Fri, 08/14/2015 - 11:56pm
They've been doing this since the late 90s. Boston is one of the first cities yo get involved in "bikelife". When I was a little boy it was Big. At least in Dorchester. Started in Nyc and quickly spread from Boston to Baltimore. Its much bigger and more serious in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Goes back to the DMX era
Wrongly limited to MOTORIZED vehicles
By Markk02474
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 11:56pm
This is a new racism. Bias based on vehicles having a motor or not, electric, propane, gasoline, french fry oil, or whatever energy source.
Bad habits start on bicycles and graduate to motorized vehicles like a gateway drug.
Otherwise, there is no need for a new law. The existing one is "driving to endanger" and a criminal offense. Oh, that might not be as effective for minors and illegal aliens with no driving licenses, vehicle registrations, or insurance.
A new standard
By perruptor
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 6:39am
Obviously, tricycles are a gateway drug. For children to grow up as responsible adults, they should be given Barbie Jeeps or the equivalent, not some dangerous thing with an insufficiency of wheels.
Not true
By BostonDog
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 6:41am
I went straight for the kick scooter.
Can't say its a black and Hispanic problem
By Markk02474
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 7:58am
That would discriminate on the kids behind the bad behavior, so the new rules discriminate based on the vehicles, which is politically correct discrimination..
My point is that ON PUBLIC STREETS, bicycles also should be ridden responsibly. Off-road, with either, do whatever. Well, provided you have permission to use the property, with Franklin Park and golf courses in mind.
BINGO
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 5:58pm
Gratuitous attacks on cycling, gratuitous attacks on minorities, evangelical bike lobby, motorist uber alles, "they took a second lane on Mass Ave that never existed!!!!!111!!!!" ... Wow, that was quick!
Serious question Mark
By spin o rama
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:01am
What are you opinions on laws that ban cell phone operation when driving? Do you feel it that existing laws for "driving to endanger" could be used for people that drive with cell phones?
Its a valid question
By Markk02474
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 12:00pm
Distracted driving is more the severity from cell phone use than driving to endanger.
Even calling it that is a political uphill battle where the toe hold is requiring hands free conversations, much like conversations with other vehicle occupants. Can't easily pass a no talking rule in cars, can you?
4/10, needs improvement
By erik g
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 10:01am
You get points for invoking "but look who the REAL racists are!" and taking a completely out-of-left-field swipe at undocumented immigrants, but if you want to troll with the big boys, you're going to have to tighten up your schtick, Markk. You're a one-trick pony, and folks are on to your bicycle antics, so you're going to have to branch out--you can't just keep upping the ante, because there's a hard upper limit to the gibbering insanity you can project around such a mundane subject. I admit, bicycles as a gateway drug shows panache, and it definitely escalates things into previously uncharted waters, but you may have painted yourself into a corner. What's left? Holocaust analogies?
Background on my one trick
By Markk02474
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 12:29pm
The anti-car bicycle agenda is an issue for me because it has robbed Mass Ave in my neighborhood of a SHARED travel lane to make bicycle-only lanes. For decades the mile of road has been perfectly fine for cyclists sharing with motorists adjacent to the Minuteman bike path prior to corrupt state policies demanding that motorist majority suffer increased congestion from the loss of a travel lane for the privileged use by cyclists as their highway. State policies are the result of the infection of transportation agencies by bicycle advocates.
They tried to claim crap about being for pedestrian safety but it was all lies. If they cared about pedestrian safety, they would have instead put in crossing lights at several crosswalks (69% crash reduction) or added more than 100 feet of raised median (50% crash reduction) in a mile or road. No. money was instead wasted to replace perfectly good sidewalk and widen it for some shrub planters.
So, yeah, Its a personal issue for me. I don't mind the cyclists so much as the cycling evangelicals, and missionaries of all religions have had some unwelcome receptions.
Shared travel lane
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 5:57pm
One of them. That is all that area of Mass Ave ever had. I know because I used to live there and I asked why it wasn't painted into two lanes. Answer: it isn't two lanes, it never was two lanes.
Except now it is a car lane and a bike lane - so it gained a lane.
I'm sorry Mark, I didn't know
By Padhraic
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:01am
I'm sorry Mark, I didn't know that the bike lobby had stolen your true love away from you. You'll never be able to hold her again, never be able to sink your hands into her shoulder as you thrust away furiously. Your one true love, your precious TARMACADAM gone forever. So tragic.
Oh, Those Rascals!
By Elmer
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 12:32am
[img]http://www.saveur.com/sites/saveur.com/files/style...
Am I the only one who thinks
By Adam
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 7:23am
Am I the only one who thinks this is extremely cool? And that writing legislation to prevent is a slippery slope?
It may be cool, but not on public roads
By Markk02474
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:55am
Stunts and racing is not for public roads with unwilling participants. Do it on closed race courses, closed parking lots, and closed airports. Sell tickets and videos to rent the venues. Same if doing bicycle, motorcycle, automobile etc. as the vehicle.
And not in parks
By lbb
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:03am
Trail-trashing and tearing up parks is right out too. The parks are for the enjoyment of the public.
Not to mention...
By Andrea H
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 9:36am
the environmental damage they cause in parks, and the danger to wildlife. It sucks to see a bunch of newly-hatched turtles that have been run over.
Do it on closed race courses,
By anon
Wed, 08/12/2015 - 9:34am
Do it on closed race courses, closed parking lots, and closed airports.
Please tell me where/how to do this.
motorsports groups
By Markk02474
Fri, 08/14/2015 - 2:56am
Google search on them. scca is just one of many that rents out places to race cars for autocross, road races, rallies etc.. There are motorcycle racing groups that also rent out spaces and get insurance. Probably also scooter and atv groups. You get to make friends etc.
How do you catch them?
By merlinmurph
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:30am
Seriously, how do you actually catch these guys? Do you really think they're going to stop when a cop sees them and tells them to stop? Uh yeah, OK. The second they see a cop, they're just going to outrun them and they can go anywhere.
They'll need plainclothes cops, anyway, and some way to stop them. Hopefully, we'll get a video of the whole thing, could be fun.
If the mayor thinks he can
By anon
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 8:36am
If the mayor thinks he can prohibit by city ordinance what people can own/possess on private property, the City is going to have an expensive lawsuit on their hands. Hope all you people cheering for this nonsense are ready to have your taxes pay for that.
Streets are private property?
By merlinmurph
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:14am
That's creative
So, what kind of dickhead bike/ATV do you own?
So if I want to keep a couple of unlicensed
By Brian Riccio
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 9:15am
MP-5's in my house to shoot off in the backyard when I feel like it, does that mean the cops shouldn't be allowed to come in and take them?
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