PROVIDENCE – The Providence Police Department may now confiscate and destroy recreational vehicles that are driven in the city illegally, according to the Providence City Council.
A new ordinance, the “ATV & Dirt Bike Enforcement Law,” passed a council vote on Thursday. It will target off-road vehicles on public roads and property. The council said that incidents involving off-road vehicles has increased in 2017 in an “alarming uptick.”
“We have been hearing from many residents and community organizations about dangerous incidents across the city involving ATVS and dirt bikes,” Council President Luis Aponte (Ward 10) said in prepared remarks.
Aponte said the incidents “threaten everyone’s safety,” and the ordinance passed gives the police “greater latitude in addressing the problem.”
According to Rhode Island Foundation President Neil D. Steinberg, off-road vehicles have cost the Providence Parks Department almost $20,000 in repairs.
The ordinance has gained support from the council after an incident between riders and residents on Aleppo Street during Easter weekend. The release said that the Parks Department supports the ordinance and that a similar law is practiced by police in New York City.
“The city of Providence has experienced lawlessness in the illegal use of all-terrain vehicles and off road motorbikes on our city streets,” Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said in a statement. “This has created a danger to our community and to our police officers who try to intercept these vehicles driving at high rates of speed on our streets, in our parks and on the bike path. The ordinance will allow the Providence police to stop, seize and potentially forfeit these vehicles so they are forever removed from the public spaces that they operate illegally. We thank the council for their support in this ordinance and we look forward to removing this menace from our community once and for all.”
Chris Bergenheim is a PBN staff writer.
