As ATVs overrun Philly, it feels like we’re living in Mad Max | Opinion

I caught them out of the corner of my eye a few weeks ago as I was sitting in my apartment overlooking Eakins Oval. It was a formation of about 16 three-wheeled ATVs headed down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, making a beeline for the Philadelphia Art Museum.

They swarmed onto the Museum’s front apron and proceeded to drive up the 72 steps to the upper plaza, then back down, dispersing at the bottom and fanning out onto the sidewalks and the Parkway, some of them driving against traffic, some doing wheelies.

As if on cue, a pair of motorcycles appeared and roared around Eakins Oval, the first of several dozen that would run this track that night. They are almost always present, especially in good weather, using the Oval and the Parkway and Kelly Drive as their own personal raceway for hours each night.

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These motorcyclists have customized mufflers that roar at decibel levels of 100-plus, sometimes as loud as chainsaws. Hearing one is a nuisance. Hearing several dozen over a six-hour period makes life hell.

These disruptions are not limited to one night, nor to one neighborhood.

Packs of ATVs and dirt bikes regularly scamper up and down South Broad Street, often against the traffic and on sidewalks. Motorcycles roar down South Street. There are reports of vehicular mayhem on North Broad Street. There is drag racing on roads that run along the Delaware River.

As a city dweller, I can live with traffic noise: horns honking, the thrum of trucks and cars, the pneumatic gasps of SEPTA buses. What I did not bargain for was Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mad Max is set in a postapocalyptic world where all authority has disappeared and the clans get to do what they please. In other words, it is a lot like the streets of Philadelphia.

These Mad Max riders can take to the streets knowing no one will stop them when they speed, run red nights, ride on sidewalks, and rev up decibels.

This kind of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated if Mayor Kenney were around.

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That’s a joke, sort of. The mayor is ensconced in his City Hall office, but he is reclusive. Public appearances are limited. Decisions go unmade. Problems linger. I have never seen an elected official who appears as miserable in his job as Jim Kenney. The result is a self-created leadership void.

Residents of Center City and surrounding environs, frustrated by the city’s inaction, organized to press the issue and have held two Zoom town hall meetings about life along Fury Road.

The virtual meetings drew more than 1,600 attendees from 16 neighborhoods across the city. Managing Director Tumar Alexander was supposed to appear at each public session. He never showed up. That sends a clear message to residents: Go pound sand.

Councilmembers Mark Squilla, Allan Domb, and Derek Green have stepped forward to lead on this issue. Last week, Council passed a bill they sponsored that makes it clear that all off-road vehicles are forbidden on city streets and can be confiscated by the police.

Through a barrage of 911 complaints and pressure from residents, the police have moved the issue to the fore and begun confiscating ATVs.

I sympathize with the police. They have priorities that trump the issue of nuisance vehicles. Besides, under their regulations, they cannot chase traffic offenders. We need an alternative. One idea advanced is for the city to begin enforcing the U.S. Noise Control Act, which requires factory-installed mufflers that keep the decibel level at 82 and have a tag that verifies they meet federal requirements. The law has been ignored by police and muffler makers.

» READ MORE: Getting ATVs and dirt bikes off Philly streets requires ‘imagination,’ not just enforcement, Krasner says

Though many states have anti-high decibel laws, enforcement is labor intensive and rarely undertaken. Stories about citizen anger over loud and illegal vehicles are a staple in the media throughout the U.S. and Canada. Police everywhere are reluctant to move it up on their to-do list because, they argue, their plates are full with other crimes and misdemeanors.

In short, nothing will happen unless we can get a special squad dedicated solely to the task of ending this vehicular mayhem. Council members have proposed putting money in the city’s proposed budget for such enforcement squads. Even if it passes, that is only half the battle. The administration will have to agree to spend it. That is no sure thing.

It is up to Mayor Kenney. Wherever he may be.

Tom Ferrick is a Philadelphia native who has worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist.