ATVs & Dirt Bikes Taking Over Poughkeepsie Streets

Heavier fines could be coming soon.

If you've spent anytime driving around Poughkeepsie in the last few weeks and months, you might have come across some people ripping up and down side streets on mini bikes, ATV's and dirt bikes. It's become quite the problem for a lot of us that do any driving especially on 44/55 (arterial) in the city of Poughkeepsie.

Now I don't like to be "grumpy" old man, but these things are going to really hurt someone soon because the people driving these type of vehicles don't follow any of the driving rules and come so close to causing accidents all the time.

I was driving east on the arterial the other night near Innis Ave, and as I waited for the light to turn green I saw 5 or 6 mini bikes come flying towards the intersection. My light turned green and because I saw them I waited, they didn't slow down or even look to see if anyone was coming and flew right through the intersection. Thank god they made it through, but who knows next time.

A fellow coworker told me that she also sees this all the time, she told me, "Saw this last night at Main & Hamilton in Pok.... two dudes... blaring down the street...I see this often and for some reason more around dusk, twilight."

It looks like Albany, New York is also dealing with a similar issue as they are trying to increase the fines people will receive if they are caught driving any illegal ATV's or dirt bikes on Albany streets. The new law will charge $3,000 in fines and fees to any rider in the City of Albany according to News 10. The law will be voted on April 5th and one Councilman Richard Conti said, "There is a real safety issue here and we need to deal with that."

Conti also said, "It’s also not just an Albany issue. Other areas, other cities, not just in the Capital Region, but nationwide, this is an issue a lot of localities are trying to deal with." One of those areas is the city of Poughkeepsie and hopefully if the law passes in Albany, it can be something that law makers in Dutchess, Ulster and surrounding counties can try and get in the law books here in the Hudson Valley.