Police plea for information on rogue dirt bike riders

Gisborne Police want help from the community to identify a group of motocross bike riders who have been riding dangerously and illegally on local roads.

“It’s just crazy what they are doing,” said a witness after they flew past his  home last week.

Police say the riders are putting themselves and other road users at risk and disregarding traffic rules.

“They are believed to be in their late teens and early 20s,” police said. “They’ve been seen riding unregistered and unlicensed motocross bikes on the wrong side of the road and along popular walkways, and endangering pedestrians.”

A man spoken to by The Herald said he had seen the riders on a section of Aberdeen Road doing wheel-stands as they raced along the street.

“I could not believe how fast they were going — no helmets, flat-out, on one wheel, just crazy. But they went by too fast to note anything useful to identify them.”

The man said there were up to five of them the first time they went along his street.

“They were riding on the back wheel only for at least a block and pretty much in the middle of the road.”

Another witness said he saw them riding no-hands across William Pettie Bridge.

“That was over the past weekend.

“They were as brazen as you like,” he said.

“The more people who see them, the more they seem to enjoy it. The fact they don’t wear helmets means they have no regard for their own safety, let alone anyone else’s.”

Another man said one of them came straight at him as he drove along Centennial Marine Drive the other day.

“He was doing a wheel-stand at the time, and it looked like he would have been doing around 80 kilometres.

“The guy was on his own that time but usually they go in packs,” the man said. “They just don’t seem to give a s..t for anyone else on the road. One of these days, one of them will kill himself or someone else.”

Police would like to hear from anyone with CCTV or cellphone footage of the riders and their bikes.

“Any assistance can be passed on to us via 105@police.govt.nz; or by ringing 105, referencing OP MX Tairāwhiti.

Alternatively, information can be given anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.