Modern Vespa

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bulldozer-crushes-illegal-dirt-bikes-in-new-york-city/vi-AAYJjMW?ocid=msedgdhp&cvid=379b96ec9ac84547b07c9f540adbb1f8

a few scooters in this clip have bitten the dust...

OUCH!

When a Mayor is failing at stopping gun violence, subway crime and attacks against Asian Americans crushing motorcycles and destroying homeless camps makes him feel good.

They could have trucked them all South and made a mint!

Idiot. That's what police auctions are for.

A bit more of a backstory:

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/dozens-of-illegal-motorcycles-crushed

'Wondering why the city doesn't either sell or donate the vehicles? Crushing the life out of the bikes ensures they don't end up back on city streets, according to the NYPD.'

Seems like an unimaginative solution to a questionable problem.

We are a stupid society. In any other civilized society, they would have confiscated the vehicles for being illegal for whatever reason(s), then either sold it of for parts. Or given the vehicles to vocational training programs for teaching.
Oh what a bs publicity stunt and the problem isn't solved at all.

What, 2,000 of them in just five months? Just not cost effective. Sorry, I've zero sympathy for illegal (therefore uninsured) vehicles, especially if used in an anti-social manner. Good riddance.

"Wow, they're not all illegal dirt bikes"

No, clearly not. On the other hand they are all "illegal bikes" of one kind or another. I understand NYC has an epidemic of unlicensed and otherwise illegal two-wheelers. I'm sure they are getting tired of seeing the same illegal bikes recycled again and again. I can see why they have decided taking them permanently off the street is the only option left.

Or this is actually necessary and beneficial. Actually living in nyc.. the past year or two has seen a noticeable increase in unregistered dirtbikes and atvs driving wrecklessly around neighborhoods showing off their useless wheelie skills. And whatever scooters seem to have been included are most likely those cheap ass chinese electric delivery driver scooters that are not legal in nyc anyways and yet somehow overabundant in this city... driven by unlicensed individuals who treat it like riding a bicycle ignoring traffic rules.


I support this destruction. Good riddance and slighty safer traffic as a result.

I'm sick of seeing the increase of bad two wheel drivers who give the rest of us bad rep in this city.

I am all for removing illegal vehicles. I see it all the time, Honda PCX 150 without plates being ridden, with rider not wearing a helmet either, and riding on bike lanes and not following traffic signs etc.
I am glad NYPD is taking some token action. I would like to see more enforcement of existing rules, sadly though the last 10 years, businesses have asked the NYPD to look the other way as it pertains to use of electric bicycles and other PTW's used by delivery drivers primarily.
In NYC the delivery services don't seem to ( I haven't used a seamless/grubhub/uber eats etc svc, so I only am making an observation) take into account the real amount of time it takes to deliver from point A to point B. Between infrastructure construction, new buildings coming up, driving lanes being removed etc traffic in NYC is moving in a pretty pathetic way.
Instead of working with businesses to come up with a better way to make things work, they pay off the politicians who then instruct NYPD to look the other way.
Eventually things get way out of hand which is the case these days.
I just dont like the methods of getting illegal vehicles out of the street.
Not sure the methods of curtailing illegal vehicles by destroying them resolves fundamental issues, if we don't address fundamental issues and keep hoping we shall do so in the future we shall endup with chaos.
I want NYPD to enforce and nip things in the bud ( thats the hope)

Getting illegal vehicles off the street, sure, I can get behind that.

Waving a checkered flag, smiling and the hoopla publicity stunt, meh. Can't get behind that. Just destroy/remove and save the cameras for something meaningful.

This is another example of idiots blaming the tool not the individual who commits the crime. Also it makes good propaganda to see machines being crushed. Start inforcing the laws.

In The Meantime: When I rode into Gotham (Monday and Wednesday), I saw scads of e-bikes, electric scooters, and small-displacement scooters jumping sidewalks, wrong-way-ing on side streets, and blowing red lights…quite distinct from the wheelie-mad kids riding in packs on the usual dirt bikes, dual-sports and quads. Crushing 'em? Probably has the same effect as running a 'dozer over hundreds of fake Rolexes and Cartiers: roughly zippo. The would-be perps eventually just take a stroll to wherever they can resupply themselves eventually. Maybe a few of these kids get the message and stop participating in the nonsense, but IMO too few. Unlicensed and uninsured, they have little skin in the game, so to speak, and the cops know this.

The delivery guys on Vinos and the like? Nearly all of those bikes are licensed, and you don't see those guys pulling crap like the others for good reason. I've had the proverbial bug up my ass about e-bikes since I was still a Gotham-bound cyclist and had numerous near-misses with them. My opinion has slowly darkened with time.

Intentionally sending a bunch of hazardous liquids and precious metals to a landfill rubs me the wrong way, but I can confirm that hooliganry has found its way to San Francisco too. I've probably seen a dozen big packs of dirt bike stunters, covering their faces but not wearing helmets, over the last year or two.

It's not my business to police other people wearing helmets, but I do think it's ridiculous to cover your face but not to protect it. (I will admit it does piss me off when people don't strap them on though, because I don't want to be hit with a projectile when someone's brain bucket comes off. Unstrapped helmets seem to be more of a problem with cruisers than dirt bikes.)

I sincerely hope they didn't go to landfill - to the metal salvage people I trust. They won't have left the batteries in, for sure.

What a display of stupidity.

We have the 'bike life' people in our area as well. Bunch of junky bikes, atv and mopeds just doing what they want. Kids today.....

Now, my neighbor 3 doors down got a China scooter and rides his kids around while they stand on the floorboard. I'll try and get a picture. Helmets? Nope. Any type of gear? Nope.

They have been doing this for years. It's not a big story unless you're just now hearing about it.

Here is one take on New York City's ongoing motorcycle destruction program:

New York City Tragically Continues Crushing Motorcycles
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2022/06/new-york-city-tragically-continues-crushing-motorcycles/

A real leader would have seen these bikes as an asset. An item of value. They could have been donated to the people of Ukraine. That would have impressed me, not another photo op for the mayor who likes fancy parties and lots of attention.

As Motovista points out, this bulldozing has been an annual event for several years for at least two mayors, and something like it is done in many cities around the world.

I don't know what has gone wrong with people since the pandemic started that makes them go through all the trouble of acquiring and storing these ATVs and dirt bikes, only to ride them on city streets being aholes. I'd think there are much easier ways of being an ahole, and the fact that it's being done in a coordinated fashion makes it even odder.

If the mayor's little stunt stops even a small fraction of them by taking away their obnoxious toys, or makes some of them think twice about doing it, I'm all for it.

It is disappointing to those of us who are law-abiding drivers and riders to see so many of the rules being so flagrantly violated and minimally enforced.