How Fall River plans to deal with off-road motorbikes and ATVs on city streets

FALL RIVER — Taking a page from Springfield and Providence, cities that have been proactive in addressing illegal off-road vehicles, the City Council and the administration are working to combat nuisance motorbikes and ATVs.

“The motorbikes are a huge problem,” said City Councilor Linda Pereira. “I get calls from people all the time.”

Pereira said she too has had unsafe encounters on a city street with motorbike operators recently.

“I was parked at a light on Eastern Avenue and Bedford. I had four guys on motorbikes on one side and four more on the other side. The light turned green and they came on either side of the car crossed over in front of me before they rode up Eastern Avenue. If I wasn’t paying attention when the light changed and I just drove, I could have hit somebody,” said Pereira.

Situations like that, she said, are what’s happening on the city's streets.

It’s not unusual to see a pack of off-road motor vehicles travelling down Plymouth Avenue popping wheelies or racing each other, and it’s happening throughout the city.

Pereira said often riders of the illegal off-road vehicles are young and not licensed and the bikes aren’t registered.

“They are very aware of the fact that the police department does not want to chase them, because if they chase them and they get into an accident, then the police will get blamed,” said Pereira.

One driver of an illegal off-road vehilce died in an accident on a city street.

In 2016, 19-year-old dirt bike rider Rafael Cordeiro was killed at 2 a.m. when he crashed into a parked police vehicle at Slade and Montaup streets when he was riding without his headlights on. The two officers inside the patrol cars suffered minor injuries.

She noted that there are off-road dirt bike trails in the Freetown-Fall River State Forest for riders to enjoy legally.

Unregistered motorbikes in Fall River

Pereira, along with City Council President Pam Laliberte-Lebeau, filed a second resolution regarding the unregistered motorbikes calling for the council to work with acting Police Chief Paul Gauvin to put together an ordinance addressing the public safety issue. The first resolution was filed last year and was sent to the Committee on Public Safety Committee where it languished.

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During last week’s City Council meeting, they voted to send the resolution directly to the Committee on Ordinances, which Pereira asked be expedited since the change in weather is increasing the number of illegal riders on the road.

City Councilor Shawn Cadime, who chairs the ordinance committee, said he met recently with Mayor Paul Coogan and Gauvin on the issue.

“Chief Gauvin has several different ordinances, one from Taunton and one from Boston and one from the city of Providence. We went through all the ordinances. So, at this point it really is going to be a cut and paste, so I think it can be expedited,” said Cadime.

He said the proposed ordinance that will be coming to the council should come quickly.

“It's a very detailed ordinance,” said Cadime. “So, I think once the ordinance committee looks at it, it's truly probably just one meeting.”

Nuisance solutions in other communities

Last October, the Taunton City Council approved its ordinance regarding nuisance off-road vehicles, that appears to have some teeth in it, according to the Taunton Daily Gazette.

'Zero tolerance': Here are Taunton's new rules on reckless ATV driving

Under that city’s new law, Taunton Police have the power to impound the illegal vehicles and hold them until the owners settle any criminal or civil charges that are pending for their actions

Under the new rules, Taunton Police have the power to impound the ATVs of operators who get arrested. Crucially, the vehicles won't be returned to their owners until any criminal or civil charges are settled.

"Zero tolerance," said Taunton City Councilor Christopher Coute at the time of the ordinance passage. "We take it, we keep it till the case is done."

Police departments in Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee started a task force and are collaborating in their efforts to stop the mayhem caused by these types of vehicles.

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Pereira said another way of combating the public safety issue is the use of drones to see where the riders are congregating. In an interview this week, Pereria suggested that gas stations be banned from allowing illegal off-street bikes from being allowed to gas up at their stations.

A call for the state to take action

And in addition to Fall River addressing the issue through an ordinance, Pereira said she thinks that the state needs to be involved as well.

Providence has been putting a dent in its problem with nuisance illegal off-road vehicles that have plagued that city.

Elorza: Illegal ATVs, dirt bikes 'will not be tolerated' in Providence

In 2020, Jhamal Gonsalves suffered a severe brain injury after police chased him while he was traveling with a crowd of dirt bike riders when he hit a curb and crashed.

Providence has also been using a tactic to destroy the seized illegal vehicles, a notion that City Councilor Leo Pelletier supported during the council meeting last week.

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“Providence has got the right idea,” said Pelletier. “You take the bikes, put them all together, get the payloader and crush ‘em. It’s the only way you're going to get them not to do this. When they lose their bikes, their toys, and it costs them money, the other people are going to see that and they're gonna stop.”

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River looks at ways of dealing with ATVs and motorbikes on streets