Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Over the last year or so I've seen four dirt bikes on the Kwinana PSP, and I really don't use that path much at all.

The latest was last Saturday at 2:40pm, two dirt bikes with two kids on each one doing 50kph+ in South Perth heading South. They can't have been older than primary school age, the noise they make and how close they passed me was very scary, I had pulled over onto the compacted dirt to check which overpass I needed to take, they still buzzed me with mere centimeters to spare. I worry about their safety, particularly as none of them were wearing helmets, and something could easily go wrong with cyclists not expecting a dirt bike flying along the path.

I'm wondering what can be done to stop this happening, will video be of any use to the police and/or will they follow it up? Maybe some crowd-sourced information on where they've been seen can help locate their area of residence.

Last night dirt bike on Beeliar drive. No lights, doing 70kph plus, couldn't tell if they had helmets on or not. Piggy back rider as well.
I was wishing for cops to be around.... chances are tho they would have gone down the PSP to try and evade

Wow, four dirt bikes in a year. Sounds like you've got a huge problem there(sarcasm).
I live near a popular bike path in suburban Melbourne and sometimes see 4 a day. Most are not wearing helmets and often 2 up. Sometimes they are out behind my house at 1:00am ripping up the park. They fly down my street at 100kmh at night with no lights.
I used to wish them harm, but now I just hope they make it home alive.
In the 8 years I have lived here I have only ever seen the cops catch one kid on a mini bike. He probably broke down.

The problem really starts with their parents. They must know what is going on and fail to act. There has been quite a few deaths in recent years including a couple of high profile ones where kids have been killed interacting with traffic.
You won't find it a priority for police, it's certainly not here. Police generally won't chase them as it is too risky.
Today has been pretty quiet here. I've been at work all day but only seen/heard 2 tonight.

I had one a couple of weeks ago in a Friday night near beeliar as well. Came very close to knocking me off and the piggyback rider spat on me as they rode past too. There's quite a few of them doing it at the moment speaking to a few other people who use the psp down my way, as their bikes can't be ridden on the freeway they use the path instead.

quite a few around the Bayswater/Redcliffe/Belmont area near the swan river. One day I was commuting down the PSP under Recliffe Bridge (Tonkin Hwy) and almost had a head on collission with some kids on peewee 50s racing....one of them had to jam the brakes hard and wobbled off the path and crashed. I was close to grabbing the bike and throwing into the river but that would be littering

Clownshoes wrote:quite a few around the Bayswater/Redcliffe/Belmont area near the swan river. One day I was commuting down the PSP under Recliffe Bridge (Tonkin Hwy) and almost had a head on collission with some kids on peewee 50s racing....one of them had to jam the brakes hard and wobbled off the path and crashed. I was close to grabbing the bike and throwing into the river but that would be littering

I would have called the cops and a ranger and had that bike impounded.
Mate of mine almost got cleaned up in Cockburn by a bike coming off a side entrance. End result was he got the rider to pull up, and got him to call his dad, and he called the cops and a ranger. 3 charges were applied and the bike was impounded.

Baalzamon wrote:

Clownshoes wrote:quite a few around the Bayswater/Redcliffe/Belmont area near the swan river. One day I was commuting down the PSP under Recliffe Bridge (Tonkin Hwy) and almost had a head on collission with some kids on peewee 50s racing....one of them had to jam the brakes hard and wobbled off the path and crashed. I was close to grabbing the bike and throwing into the river but that would be littering

I would have called the cops and a ranger and had that bike impounded.
Mate of mine almost got cleaned up in Cockburn by a bike coming off a side entrance. End result was he got the rider to pull up, and got him to call his dad, and he called the cops and a ranger. 3 charges were applied and the bike was impounded.

Easier said than done! Judging by the situation and the general attitude of the punk kid I doubt he would have complied with any of my demands. Waiting for the cops and rangers to show up, ain't nobody got time for that! They take 3 hours to respond to a home invasion in Belmont I'd hate to see the response time for something 'trivial'.

Anyway the kid ate total showtime and looked rattled when I was giving him a dressing down as he laid there on the ground covered in leaves and dirt. Was only when I started to ride off that he started growing a pair of balls and mouthing off. His bike wasnt starting anyway hahaa

On the northern PSP I followed some kids on a postie bike and a trail bike on Wednesday night around ~8pm. They joined the path by cutting across the grass near the City of Stirling offices before following the PSP northbound over the bridge before exiting just south of Erindale Road. These kids were riding with their headlights off, seemed determined not to be spotted. Still they were a bit rude, they didn't give me a tow when I caught up to them, think my Ay-Ups dazzled them . Sounds like more of a serious issue down south.

I had another two kids on a dirt bike on Monday night near roe on the psp. Appeared from I. The bush on the bike, then slowed down. Thought I was going to have some problems with them, but they just smiled and waved and stayed just ahead of me. Was nice to get a tow along there. Only worrying thing was they had no lights so I'd have hated to be coming the other way down the path and not have seen them!

I had some fat sod in a golf buggy come out at me from under the Karel Ave underpass once. He was too wide to fit in his one lane and was straddling the centreline. No noisy forewarning being electric. Had I been a few seconds earlier I would've hit him head on turning into the underpass. Stupid git.

HappyHumber wrote:I had some fat sod in a golf buggy come out at me from under the Karel Ave underpass once. He was too wide to fit in his one lane and was straddling the centreline. No noisy forewarning being electric. Had I been a few seconds earlier I would've hit him head on turning into the underpass. Stupid git.

oh he's a regular when the sun is shining, I've nearly collected him a few times around the under pass........ he just smiles and waves, so that's OK.

The kids on the Roe Hwy around Beckenham/Langford are coming through from Thornlie, probably around Royal St, and Beckenham. If you ride along the Canning River shared path you have to watch the blind corners, but you can usually hear them coming long before they appear. Saw a scooter once with five of them on it.

Awhile ago I came across a full on 500cc street bike on the Kwinana Fwy path just near the Roe Hwy bend. Thankfully the guy was stationary with his helmet off like he was waiting for someone. It's a good 50m or so up a small feeder path to the nearest road and I assume it has those hoop fences to stop larger vehicles, but there he was. o_0

Hopefully they end up in the drink or at the bottom of a steep hill.

FOUR teenagers are facing 64 charges between them over a string of robberies and burglaries in Perth's south eastern suburbs.
It's alleged the four youths aged 15, 17, 18 and 19 used stolen trail bikes when they carried out the robberies and burglaries in the suburbs of Langford, Southern River, Maddington and Gosnells.

Hopefully that'll reduce the amount of trail bike traffic on the Roe PSP.