“As we stand in the shadow of the Freedom Tower, we are freeing ourselves of these destructive pieces of machinery that are on our streets. They will be crushed today so that they can never terrorize our city again.”
Those were the words from New York City Mayor Eric Adams today as the city held an event to destroy nearly 100 of what the mayor called “extremely dangerous” machines.
And what were these “extremely dangerous” machines terrorizing New York City?
Dirt bikes and ATVs.
Seriously.
The mayor even waved a checkered flag as the bulldozer took off to drive over the dirt bikes. (This was quite the production but maybe a TAD overdramatic?)
The bikes that were crushed are not street legal in NYC, and were confiscated by NYPD as part of the mayor’s promise to step up enforcement efforts and get illegal vehicles off the road. So far this year, around 900 dirt bikes and ATVs have been confiscated this year.
Adams praised NYPD in his press conference:
“The NYPD heard the call, and they did a Herculean task to get rid of these loud, intimidating and dangerous and illegal dirt bikes and ATVs that are on our streets.”
Intimidating? To who? Where I grew up kids started riding dirt bikes long before they could get their learner’s permit. And I’ve been riding four wheelers for literally as long as I can remember.
Now, would they be annoying in a big city? Maybe. But calling them “intimidating” and “extremely dangerous” and saying they’re “terrorizing the streets” of NYC would make pretty much anybody who grew up in the country laugh at the city slickers making such a scene over some dirt bikes and ATVs.
Not to mention it seems pretty wasteful to just crush them instead of selling them to raise some money for the city, or even donating them to people outside of NYC.
Some people even suggested that they should have been donated to Ukraine to use for defense in their fight against Russia.
Just another reason to avoid living in the big city.
