To wonder why all these teenagers are being killed in police car chases?

[malificent7]

Are they only being chased if they are driving dangerously? First there was Cardiff now the kid on the bike. I know kids do silly things with cars but aibu to think the police don't come off well with this?

Nobody's going to go to the media after a death and say "yeah, my son was a little shit who did x, y and z" though.

Obviously I'm not saying this boy definitely did something wrong but you can't take what's said to the media as gospel.

How do you know they are criminals?

Its irresponsible for the Police to chase people on bicycles, the punishment for stealing a bike or riding an illegal e-bike is not death.

Kids often do dickhead things, which they grow out off - if given the chance.

& what have the Police achieved? nothing, apart from the never ending hatred of the families & communities involved.

Might be better to stop the sale and modification of illegal e-bikes? my neighbour fits £300 Chinese e bike motors (that are unlimited) to any bike a punter brings to him, he has been reported for doing so but no one was interested in shutting him down

Unfortunately teenage boys have still developing brains that don't necessarily act with common sense. We all know that.

I'd take a longer look at how he came to be in possession of a vehicle that he wasn't competent to ride, was over powered for the environment, and why he was riding without a helmet. And why wasn't he in school?

Great minds think alike @Thesunnymood

I have dealings with the part of Salford that lad died in, I was car jacked at knifepoint there about 15y ago by teenagers. I still work in and around there. It’s an area with a lot of social issues, to say the least.

Im surprised there isn’t more injury/deaths due to E-bikes and scooters, they are a sodding menace.

Of course it's the point.

You can travel a hell of a lot faster on a an electric scooter than you can on a pedal bike. Therefore they are more dangerous.

How do you know they are criminals?

By running from the police they are automatically making themselves criminals by breaking the law. If the police pull you over, you don't ride off and expect that to just be the end of it.

Its irresponsible for the Police to chase people on bicycles, the punishment for stealing a bike or riding an illegal e-bike is not death.

The police aren't chasing them to kill them, they're chasing them to pull them over and stop them breaking the law.

The main question is, why do these boys have access to illegal bikes in the first place, and why are they trying to outrun the police?

The ebike element is highly relevant.

There are limits on ebikes - I think the electric motor is meant to cut out at 15mph, and above that it's pedal power only.

A lot of the ebikes currently going around have been modified so that the electric motor will go way above 15mph. They are, in effect, mopeds that look like pedal bikes.

With increased speed comes increased danger, and there's a reason we don't let children drive mopeds, and there's a reason motorbike helmets are compulsory but bike helmets are not - it's about the speeds involved. The Ely crash deaths both involved serious head injuries.

The kids in Ely were 15 and 16, and the kid in Salford was 15. You have to be at least 16 - and to have gone on a CBT course - and even then the mopeds you're allowed to ride can only go a maximum of 27mph.

When you allow untrained children to ride what are effectively small motorbikes without training or helmets, you can hardly be surprised when some of them die.

A legal e-bike is limited to 15mph max speed, any half decent cyclist, esp a kid, can do that but illegal ones are often electric motor bikes, i see Deliveroo riders going up hill, not pedalling.
No one is interested in stopping the sale of them.

Totally agree with this. I despair at idiot parents buying illegal stuff for their children.

Yes

Children with no convictions are perfect targets for grooming into county lines gangs as not known to the police they can carry the drugs with less chance of being stopped. Maybe that's how he got the bike.

The punishment for riding an illegal bike may not be death however in many areas they are presenting real harm to other people by riding them. Efforts absolutely need to be made to make them stop before someone innocent is badly injured or killed.

Leaving them be through fear of them having an accident isn’t the answer.

It’s kids on bikes they can’t control properly. Blame the parents imo

Yes I think the investigations will look into this but I think "chase" might not be what happened

Your being generous in assuming all the kids are doing is wheely type activities. Do you know how many nice kids are carrying drugs for the adults that groom them? Should the police ignore this?

exactly. Actions have consequences, it’s a horrific outcome to something kids see as a bit of fun, but the adults who have provided the kids with the bikes are the ones who should be shamed.

^
This. In the city where I work kids whizz around on roads and pavements oblivious to pedestrians. They do not wear helmets and often have headphones on, weave between traffic, trucks and buses and appear from nowhere when you are crossing the road as you cannot hear them. They do not stop at lights or pedestrian crossings. Oh and besides all this it is actually illegal to ride them unless part of a trail rental scheme.

I live in an area with lots of parks and green spaces, a few years back we had a huge problem with moterbike theft and dangerous driving of stolen vehicles, muggings etc. It was incredibly hard for the police to catch them.

Now its starting up again but with scooters and e bikes.

Is it possible some have been loaned the electric-motor-bikes by adult criminals to do illegal activities? Like drug delivery. I could see that being a reasonable investment in the criminal business model.

It's happening now because the illegal bikes are relatively new products.

I don't have trouble accepting he was a sweet kid. Good kids can be led astray. :(

Well his parents and friends aren’t going to say he was a nasty little scrote are they?

You know all those teenagers who get in trouble, steal things, destroy stuff? They’ll have a family who think they are lovely too.

The kids in question are killing themselves by riding dangerously and against the law on bikes they should never have had access to. The Police have a duty to try and prevent further harm by managing this type of anti social and dangerous behaviour.

They shouldn't be on the vehicles, or at the least should wear helmets. They should stop at once if the police flag them down and indicate that they want to speak to them. It's not that hard. These vehicles are dangerous in the wrong hands.

How do you know they are criminals?

The Aunt of one of the boys who was killed in Ely said that he'd been arrested 30 times in 2 years. I don't know if he was ever charged with anything but 30 arrests suggests a lot.

This