Control needed for mini motos

A few weeks back I wrote that queuing was my pet hate.

Well, it's not now.

No, that doesn't mean I am about to lift the ban on supermarket shopping, or any form of shopping for that matter.

It's just I've discovered something which annoys me even more, and that really is saying something.

Whoever invented those mini motorbikes which have become a scourge of pedestrians should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Talk about a disaster waiting to happen. It's bad enough to have larrikins hooning around on ordinary bicycles - have you noticed how many don't seem to bother wearing helmets these days - but this is far worse.

These mini motorbikes are powered by a mix of petrol and oil and generate considerable speed.

Recommended use is apparently for children 12 years of age or over weighing under 70kg and, according to one advertising source, parental supervision is required whenever in use and helmets must be worn.

Going on what I have seen on our footpaths and parks, few who have purchased these machines have bothered to digest that information.

Just the other day I saw two kids who would have been lucky to be old enough to even attend primary school racing along Memorial Drive in Queen Elizabeth Park, without any helmets on and no parents in sight. They were having a blast but I couldn't help but think what might happen should anybody cross the road in front of them. It sent a cold shiver up the spine.

On another occasion, I approached a young fella doing circuits of Queen Elizabeth Park Oval and asked him to desist because of the damage he was doing to the grass surface. He said he had been told by his parents to keep off the roads and paths because of the dangers to pedestrians and use the parks instead.

In their defence they probably didn't even think of the possible consequences of that advice.

The plain facts are that these mini motorbikes are going to be a damn nuisance anywhere but in wide open spaces like farm paddocks where youngsters can ride them to their heart's content with only their own safety to worry about. I wonder what the chances are of local authorities being able to implement bylaws banning them from being used in specific locations.