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GARDAÍ WILL BE tackling illegally operated scramblers and quad bikes again this year with a targeted operation in north Dublin housing estates over Christmas.
On Christmas Day last year gardaí arrested five people and seized a number of vehicles, including scrambler bikes, in the Cabra and Finglas areas of north Dublin.
TheJournal.ie understands gardaí in Finglas, Cabra and the north inner city are running a similar operation again this year to crack down on the illegal use of these vehicles over the next few days.
In May, Fianna Fáil councillor Rachel Batten was the victim of an assault by a youth on a scrambler. She was taking part in a community clean-up in Dublin when the group witnessed a gang of youths on scramblers run a red light and crash into another vehicle.
A woman who was with Batten gestured to them that they had broken the light and one youth came at them and began to hit Batten with a brush. She suffered a broken wrist in the assault.
Last year 39-year-old Ilabek Avetian was severely injured when a teenager on a scrambler ran over his head while he lay sunbathing with his wife in a park in Darndale.
He suffered a severe brain injury and lost his left eye, as well as sustaining a number of fractures to his forehead, nasal bones and jaw in the incident. His wife Anzhela Kotsinian also sustained a fractured pelvis.
The 16-year-old boy who was on the bike at the time was dealt with through the garda Juvenile Diversion Programme and so has not faced prosecution.
Earlier this month gardaí reinforced their message about the dangers associated with children and young teenagers being gifted quad bikes and scramblers.
They pointed out that most of the incidents of injuries or deaths involving these vehicles on public roads involved children under the age of 18.
Chief Superintendent Paul Cleary of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said gardaí “do not want to be delivering devastating news to another family this Christmas”.
He said children and young teenagers should not be driving these vehicles in public, or without the necessary licence, insurance, safety equipment and supervision.
An Garda Síochána also said it wanted to highlight that some youths on scramblers have been linked to anti-social behaviour in parks and public areas.
This illegal and anti-social use of scramblers and quads poses a serious safety hazard and a potential to case fear and intimidation in our communities. Gardaí will have a visible presence in highlighted locations and will be enforcing the Public Order Act and the Road Traffic Act.
Review of legislation
In 2017, 62 people were injured in incidents involving off-road vehicles like scrambler and quad bikes.
As part of an operation gardaí ran last year, officers had also called into schools in the run up to the festive season to warn them of the dangers associated with these bikes.
Leaflets were distributed in an attempt to dissuade parents from purchasing the vehicles and young people from using them.
An inter-agency group was established last year by the Department of Justice to examine the misuse of scramblers and quad bikes in Ireland. Part of this work has been to review criminal justice and public order legislation to ensure that An Garda Síochána possesses the necessary powers to deal with the issue.
In response to a recent parliamentary question, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan told Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall that the group, at its last formal meeting in March this year, had agreed that, “in the main”, current legislative provisions appeared to be sufficient.
“Nonetheless it was also agreed that the group would remain open to considering workable legislative solutions to any specific legislative gaps specifically identified by An Garda Síochána,” he said.
Flanagan said his officials had written to the Garda Commissioner on the issue and Drew Harris in his response suggested “potential legislative changes which the organisation believes could assist in improving policing in this area”.
He said these proposals are received detailed consideration in his department and have been shared with the Department of Transport.
These proposals were also further scrutinised by the cross-agency group earlier this month to “ascertain whether they can be progressed alongside targeted enforcement measures, awareness raising and youth engagement, which are key to success in combatting this behaviour”.
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About time, sue the parents or lock them up
@Mick McGuinness: can we also rename the “juvenile diversion program” the Martin Nolan sponsored “get out of jail free” programme? Not fit for purpose, and in recent cases allowed attempted murderers of scott free.
Thing I can’t understand is why not give them a place where they can go and kill themselves and have fun doing it. Get them off the streets so they don’t kill anyone else.
My reasoning is this, try to ban drugs and what happens. Try to ban sex and what happens? Try to ban anything and what happens, people will do it anyway.
The reason the govt aren’t going to do this is because the insurance industry is slowly destroying this country…. while the judges throw money are people for hurting their pinky finger.
@great gael of Eire: even if you gifted them acres of land to have at it, they’d still be on the streets and footpaths because they get their thrills from breaking the rules, the bikes are just a means to that end. They don’t love riding bikes, they love riding bikes illegally. The only way to curb it is to sanction the parents of kids caught on them a €5000 fine would be a good start.
@anthony mcgowan: your right but I still think it should be treated as a sport cuz motocross is a sport , and money should be put into it. This problem is only getting worse.. Im familiar with the sport, kind of, and I know it wudnt fix the problem completely but it wud lessen the malark people have to put up with daily if the youths got focused on sumtin real, joined up to sumtin their peers held in high regard..
@great gael of Eire: There are plenty of legal places – and lots of clubs to join.
eg. theres a northside one in Fairview beside the dart station “Dublin City Motocross Track”
@Anthony Clark: thats not really correct yes we have many clubs but we don’t have loads of tracks and the few we do have are rarely open for practice
@great gael of Eire: cuz no one will pay for it and the tax payer has enough shite to pay for already
@anthony mcgowan: Or confiscate the scramblers if seen on public streets, parks or walkways.
@PHILIP SMITH: stop making out that this is to do with a lack of facilities, Anthony hit it on the head, this is just scrote parents and scrote kids braking the law for the sake of it. They would buy them guns if they could.
@Brin: I was only stating that there aren’t any places to ride motocross bikes! 99% of these guys riding MX bikes on the streets are riding stolen bikes anyways!
Prosecute the parents who bought the bike.soon put a stop to this nonsense.
London met use controlled ramming as a tool to deal with this criminality. Put the skrokes on the floor and total the bikes.
Large fine for the parents, if they can’t pay, force them to undergo many hours of community service (only because putting these people in prison just means a holiday with their mates).
Hit them and their guardians where it hurts – welfare. And sorry if that offends but they are on welfare and probably living in one of our houses. The threat has to be there. If your not contributing positively to the community that is looking after you – you will lose what we give you
Give the Gardaí a few stingers, would soon fix the little scrotes’ holes.
Yep
@Ian Holmes: yeh right. Gardai are scared to go near these lads.
Expect no response.
@Cian Martin: if by scared u mean scared of losing their houses or life savings through a civil claim when pal loses his legs going around a corner, cuz ya know what, theres no legislation to protect them, so yeah they shud be scared..
@Togs: of course. In the UK they’re allowed run these lads off the road.
Here, if you breath near them they’ll have a claim in a heartbeat and neither the Gardai nor the government will support you when you were doing your duty. Disgraceful.
@Cian Martin: What about the other 364.25 days?
All the classy areas seem to attract them – what’s the extent of this problem in killiney where they can actually afford scramblers and quads?
@roberto Mankini: Are we to seriously believe this problem only exists in the greater Dublin area? It’s happening all over the country where stupid parents, with more money than brains, are quite prepared to buy powerful bikes, little or no safety gear, hand them to kids, some barely into their teens. And they’re dumb enough to think, what could go wrong?
As for blaming the “system” for not providing them somewhere to zip around in. None of these kids have insurance, they’re too young and obviously don’t have a license either. If baby creches are closing because of the rising cost of insurance what do you think the insurance for a project like that would cost? They clearly wouldn’t pay for it, so who will? You, me? I don’t think so.
@Arch Angel: 100% spot on – we have had a year of putting up with these little f88kers and their scramblers , ever since christmas day last year we have had these things up and down our lane from early morning until gone midnight – razzing around a field near our home day and night and using the laneway to access the field – gangs of them all waiting for their ‘turn’ on the scrambler , not one of them old enough to be riding a bike legally ,no helmets or safety gear , none road legal bikes . they ride out in front of vehicles using the road ,playing ‘chicken’ by pulling wheelies along side cars on the road , there has been 3 incidents where other people have been injured , one elderly lady who walks her little dog along the laneway was knocked to the ground by some idiot coming out of a gap in the hedgerow , causing her to injure her hip and side , a young woman with her 6 month old baby in a pram was nearly hit full on by one of them coming off a nearby estate to get onto the lane and an elderly man was ‘clipped’ as one of them rode past him and kicked out his leg as he went past trying to knock the mans walking stick out of his hands, we even had the air ambulance called after 2 of them smashed into each other while ‘showing off ‘ to a group of young girls , turned out both had been drinking and smoking weed , one of them suffered a serious leg injury which required the air ambulance to get him to hospital , the other one rode off and hid , garda took the bike later the same day but he had it back within 24 hours and was back out doing the same sort of thing . eventually at the end of september ,after months and hundreds of complaints to the council ,garda and landowner the garda caught a group of them on the road between the field and the estate -that meant the bikes could be confiscated and the riders prosecuted -apparently the garda have to catch them actually ridding on a public highway before they can act – 5 bikes were seized and crushed – 6 people were prosecuted or cautioned . since then we have only had 2 instances of scrambler bikes coming into the area – and they didnt hang around for long . im just hoping that this christmas parents have learned some sense and dont go buying these machines for kids to ride .
The parents often don’t pay the fines if you are referring to parents who support antisocial activity by their children. Just take the bike away when driven where prohibited and destroy it. Set a minimum age, laws requiring safety, insurance, etc. and destroy scramblers seized when rules are broken. Your child uses your scrambler without your permission? Bye-bye scrambler!
@Rathminder: use the same legislation as is used when unaccompanied learner drivers are caught using a car – no licence ,no insurance ,no road tax , no helmets and underage . police in the uk use section of the road traffic act that refers to using a vehicle to cause disturbance and in an anti social manner .
About Time
Ehh a lot of these bikes are stolen, or bought by kids themselves second hand , most them have no interest in joining a club and paying to enter an event or track , most parents probably don’t know little Johnny has a bike, because it’s kept in Antos gaff,
Opening a facility will take very few out of public areas, there already is an inner city track
They are not road legal, no reg, not insurable,
The fun is being untouchable, gardai cannot follow them across greens or through narrow gaps, round them all up and crush them if they can’t find original owner
@Wayne Yore: and the bikes too !
A scrambler is not just for xmas
Is there any facilities in Dublin where kids can use these bikes legally and be thought under supervision how to ride them in a safe manner and perhaps be encouraged to take up Scrambling in a competitive manner.
@Leonard Barry: Plenty clubs – just need google – saw one club demoing their stuff as a sideshow at the RDS car show once – amazing skills.
@Leonard Barry: https://youtu.be/lQJtedut1WA
@Anthony Clark: that was probably us racing the little pitbikes. My young lad is 14 now and has been riding bikes from the age of 3. It is a cheap form of motorsport to get into and the kids love it. It’s safe and it teaches the kids how to ride and handle bikes in safety.
@Graham Ronan: but we know this isn’t “enthusiasts”. This is irresponsible parents getting their kids a gun when the need a steel bucket to kick.
@Leonard Barry: Haha yeah thats like saying is there any facilities out there to do illegal drugs or underage drinking or joyride stolen cars.. wtf.. some people live in the clouds
What kind of skangbag buys their child a scrambler and sends them out the front door on it. Braindead selfish clowns.
Sunbathing in Darndale…
@Gooney: Stupid comment
The Guards should be allowed use drones to track these kids. Must safer for all involved. And if the kids drop the bikes and run, let the Guards keep taking the bikes and crushing them.
Death by dangerously riding a scrambler, I am expecting it tomorrow because of idiot parents
@Martin Harte: yea and then in a few months… Judge Nolan gives Suspended sentence to youth on his scrambler who caused death of pedestrian.
@Marc Murphy: judge Nolan should be sacked for not doing his job
@Marc Murphy: true that!
@Mick McGuinness: how does he get away with it though? You’d think the people would protest something so serious
Just Christmas Day so.
Make it legal for police to hit them off the bikes.
Simple.
@Ros Aodha: they have done this in the uk
Just the Northside. What about all the innocent Johnny’s on the West and South.
Not much else to be doing
@Minamino: except driving over peoples skulls.
Is all started at 5:30am …
Just Dublin Estates ?
updote for the 0.25
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